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I LI BRARY OF CONGRESS, i 
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! UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.! 





nt0ttj) % Sftt^a: 



A JOURNAL 



WALKS IN THE WOODS, AND FLOWER-HUNTING 
THROUGH FIELD AND BY BROOK. 



Mary Lorimer, 



WITH ILLUSTRATIONS FROM DRAWINGS AFTER NATURE. 












NEW YORK: 

PUBLISHED BY HURD AND HOUGHTON, 

Camfcvttrjje: EtbcrSttfc }3rc££. 

1869. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by 

Hurd and Houghton, i» 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New York. 






RIVERSIDE. CAMBRIDGE : 

STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED ET 

H. 0. HOUGHTON AND COMPANY. 



^ 



THE MONTHLY CALENDAR OF FLOWERS. 



PAGE 

FLOWERS OF APRIL ........... 50 

FLOWERS OF MAY 65 

FLOWERS OF JUNE 83 

FLOWERS OF JULY 99 

FLOWERS OF AUGUST 116 

FLOWERS OF SEPTEMBER 125 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PAGE 

Hepatica-triloba: Liver-leaf 4 

The Dripping Rocks .9 

oxalis-violacea : vlolet wood-sorrel 32 

A Waterfall 43 

Orchis-spectabile : Spring Orchis 47 

Epigea-repens : May-flower . 51 

Trientalis-Americana : Star-flower 53 

A Kingfisher 64 

Azalea-nudiflora : Honeysuckle 75 

Monotropa-uniflora : Indian Pipe 77 

Nepenthes-distillatoria : Pitcher-plant 89 

A Woody Recess 98 

Oaks 101 

Ghost-flower '. 108 

Sagittaria-variabilis : Arrow-head 112 

Walking-fern 119 

A Sea View . . . . , 124 

Parnassia-Caroliniana : Flower of Parnassus . . . 128 

Four-leaved Clover 130 

Forest Leaves ... 132 

Ferns .139 

Ferns 141 

Lygodium-palmatum : Climbing-ferns 149 

The Hills 153 



AMONG THE TREES. 



February 10. 

YES, my dear Rose, " Among the Trees " is the name 
I have given for the present to our country home, 
a little picture of a place, framed by romantic hills. A 
very appropriate name, you would allow, for before us 
and around us and behind the house to the mountain 
top, stretch the grand and wonderful trees. What the 
real name will be, I do not yet know. Father finds one 
quite remarkable in Latin, and another equally so in 
French; the first expressing something which actually 
happened to this place years ago, and the other very 
prettily enshrining the name of a family who once 
owned it. But we think we shall escape these. Aunt 
Emily says she does not care how grand the names may 
be they give to city places, but here on these green 
slopes, watered by mountain streams and made beautiful 
by forest trees, some good old English word seems best. 

I am rejoiced that we live at last where there are 
mountains. Mountains or the sea, Helen thinks, should 
be in sight from the windows of all country houses. 
Mountains are all around us, and a walk to the summit 
behind the house gives us a view of the distant ocean. 

I see that there will be much to write you about, if 
we live in the country, for we are such genuine country 
lovers that we shall find objects of interest in things that 
l 



2 AMONG THE TREES. 

might seem trifling or unworthy to less devoted hearts. 
Not a flower or a fern or a mossy stone, not a leaf that 
will wave on these countless trees, not even a blade of 
grass will seem trifling or unworthy to us ; neither will 
they to you, I am sure. 

The out-of-doors here seems interminable, and we are 
continually tempted to explore in all directions, and 1 
shall try and make you familiar with all that grows dear 
to us. It is now February, and the spring will soon be 
opening fresh and fair, and I know that then I shall 
want to write to you about bluebirds and robins, and 
dancing brooks and opening flowers, and all the novelties 
of living among the hills. There will be plenty of 
spring-work, as the farmers say, and I must improve the 
little time before that to tell you of our winter woods 
and winter experiences. I wish I had written to you 
regularly the few months that we have been here, and 
thus kept you along with us in our daily round of duties, 
pleasures, and pursuits, but we were a long time getting 
settled, and I did not think of it. 

Our life here is not very striking, it is true, and to 
some of our fashionable friends would probably seem 
tedious and stupid, but we do not find it so. The days 
are not long enough for all we find to do, and to enjoy, 
and we know not what it is to wish time away. 

I shall write you all that I think will interest you, and 
that will be about all that interests us ; and I shall not 
confine myself to any formalities of letter writing, but 
write whenever I feel like it, and about anything that is 
in the ascendant at the time. 

We came here, as you know, in mid -winter, a dreary 
time, one would think, to begin living in the country ; but 
the weather was mild and the walks so pleasant that we 



AMONG THE TREES. 6 

went into the woods almost every day. Many a day in 
December, when the city dweller supposes the country a 
frozen desert, dead and buried beneath a shroud of snow, 
we have gone out after breakfast and found enough to 
interest and keep us out all the forenoon. It was seldom 
cold after we reached the wood-paths, for the wind did 
not penetrate the forest of tree-trunks. There were' 
always sheltered dells upon the southern slopes, where 
the frost put his cold fingers only in the way of graceful 
adornment ; the beauty and variety of the winter mosses 
were a perpetual delight ; and the hardy winter birds 
would follow our steps, fluttering from tree to tree, and 
seemingly extending to us the hospitalities of their 
peculiar domain ; and we who had supposed birds mere 
" summer friends," were rejoiced to find that some could 
be depended upon at all seasons. We always found 
interesting things during these strolls upon the hills, and 
here I must tell you of a pretty little flower which 
gained our earliest affections in this winter solitude. It 
is one of the spring's first welcomers, blossoming early in 
April, and you may think it has no place in winter 
woods, but it has, as you will see. We often found, 
under sheltering covers of fallen leaves, the folded up 
plants waiting for the spring; and floating out on long 
stems, over mosses and amongst the rocks, we noticed a 
great many pretty three-lo bed leaves, which with evergreen 
endurance braved all the blasts. Some of them were 
rusty and weather-beaten, but in sheltered spots they 
were often of a fine deep green, and tinged with crimson 
and purple. These leaves were new to us, and we traced 
them to their source ; and there just beneath the soil, we 
found delicate flower-buds wrapped in nature's soft 
wrappings, but fully formed and " biding their time." 



AMONG THE TREES. 



We thought we would give them the benefit of sunshine 
within doors, and we took up with great care some of 




Hepatica-triloba. 

these bunches of buds, not disturbing the roots. We 
carried them home, placed them in a flower-pot in a 
sunny window, and to our great satisfaction, in a few 



AMONG THE TREES. o 

davs they began to grow. The buds shot up on downy, 
purplish stems, several inches high, and in about three 
weeks after we brought them home, on New Year's 
morning, behold several of these buds opened and dis- 
played to our delighted eyes a new and charming flower, 
the pretty purple blossoms of the Hepatica. We were, 
of course, much pleased with the new flower, blooming 
in January when its custom is to wait till April, and we 
duly appreciated the delightful sentiment of the thing, 
the friendly hurrying up of these fair creations to wish 
us strangers a " Happy New Year." 

Now we study about all the flowers we find and 
examine them botanically, though you, city dweller that 
you are, cannot do this, because you cannot get any 
wild flowers; ah, no, you may hunt from one end to the 
other of Chestnut, Walnut, Spruce, or Pine Streets, but 
under none of these pretended trees will you find one 
sweet little wild-wood blossom. 

But I know how you love flowers, and how you will 
persevere in studying about them, so you must take 
Gray's Botany, and read on page sixth the botanical 
description of " Hepatica-triloba, liver-leaf, belonging to 
the Ranunculaceae or Crowfoot Family," described as 
having heart-shaped, three-lobed leaves, persistent through 
the winter; flowering soon after the snow leaves the 
ground ; flowers blue, purple, and white. 

You must read with the greatest care and patience 
the description given in the Botany of any plant you 
may be wishing to understand about; no matter if it 
seems hard and stupid, it must be understood. The 
minuteness of botanical description is wonderful, and 
this is necessary because the distinction between different 
species of flowers often depends upon a very slight thing, 



6 AMONG THE TREES. 

some little bract or nectary that would quite escape the 
eye of a casual beholder. 

And you must become familiar with the Glossary, 
where different terms are explained, and find out and 
remember the difference between leaflets, sepals and 
petals, and pedicels and petioles, stamens and anthers, 
styles and stigmas, and a great many more terms. You 
have no idea what a charm this knowledge will give to 
all your botanical researches hereafter. I wish the 
learned botanists were not so afraid of praising the 
beauty of the flowers they describe. I do not see how 
they can help saying how lovely they are, but some of 
them seem to think the drier the better. 

If I wrote a Botany I would have a pretty description 
of every flower, and nice names, not hard words that 
nobody r can spell or pronounce, and I would have beau- 
tifully drawn and colored pictures of the flowers, with 
the green leaves and the delicate little brown roots, just 
as they grow. I think the girls would like my book 
better than those they now have to study. 

Well, this is our first flower, blooming January first. I 
fear it will be several months before we have another to 
register. O no, there is another even earlier than this, 
though I came near forgetting it. One day in December? 
when we were out exploring, Helen, who seems always 
the first to spy out novelties, called out to us to come 
and see a tree covered with little yellow flowers sitting 
down on all the stems. And sure enough, we found this 
tree covered with quantities of little yellow blossoms 
growing upon the bare branches. They were not very 
handsome, but interesting at that time of year, and de- 
lightful to us novices in rural life. Not a leaf on the 
tree, only this profusion of little flowers and some dried 
up seed-vessels of the last year. 



AMONG THE TREES. 1 

We thought at once it must be the witch-hazel, as 
only a day or two before Isabella had read aloud these 
lines, — 

" That strange awakener at cold winteVs verge, 
The low witch-hazel, shows its yellow stars 
Curled thick along its boughs." 

We took a branch home, and Father put one of the 
seed-vessels in his pocket, and the next day in the city 
he showed it to a botanical friend of his, who, as soon as 
he glanced at it, said, " That is the Hamamelis-Virginica 
or witch-hazel." How do you suppose he could tell by 
that old, dried seed-vessel? So here are two flowers by 
January first. 

You must have a book in which to register the names 
of the flowers we tell you of. This will make you 
familiar with the names at least, and as we shall study 
botany together when you are here another year, it wil] 
be well for you to have some preparation or I fear you 
will never be able to catch us. You will see by the lists 
we shall send you how to prepare your book. You will 
observe the number of divisions required, and the order 
of arrangement, Class, Order, Genus, Species, Common 
Name. 

In putting down the botanical name, which comprises 
the genus and species, you will of course begin the 
generic name with a capital letter, but the specific name 
should always begin with a small letter, and should be 
divided from the generic name by a hyphen, thus, — 

Hepatica-triloba, 
Arethusa-bulbosa, etc. ; 

unless, as frequently happens, the species is named for 



o AMONG THE TREES. 

a place or a person, then the species also must begin 
with a capital letter, as 

Cornus- Canadensis, 
Viola-Selkirkii, etc. 

Now do you think this is too much trouble to take for 
these "darlings of the forest?" I hope not, for in no 
other way can you become understandingly and forever 
at home with these fair friends. 

In one of our botanical books it says that the Hepatica 
with round lobes to the leaves grows upon the southern 
slopes of hills, and the acuti-lobed upon the northern 
slopes, and it is certain that the many we have found are 
round-lobed, and our hill-side slopes southward. When 
the spring advances, we intend to extend our search over 
the mountains and down the northern slope, and see if 
there is really any difference. 

Fkbkuary 14. 

I must tell you now of a winter water-plant, which 
we discovered in a most romantic little nook. 

As you go up the hills a short distance from the house, 
a path leads down a ravine towards a mountain stream. 
Taking this path, you find yourself on the edge of a 
steep bank, and on three sides are high rocks crowned 
with trees. Looking over the bank, you see below a pretty 
little lake, its basin scooped out at the bottom of these 
high rocks. This fairy lake is formed by water which, 
coming from the hills, finds its way in many little trick- 
ling streams through the crevices of these surrounding 
cliffs,, and these little streams keep drip, drip, dripping all 
the time. Helen has named this the Green Lake, be- 
cause in the depth of winter, when we first discovered it, 



AMONG THE TREES. » 

it was as green as the freshest green grass of summer. 
Helen ventures into all sorts of places where the rest of 
us are often afraid to go, and she is frequently rewarded 
by finding some woodland treasure. At this time she 
clambered down the steep bank almost to the edge of 
the water to find out what this greenness meant, and 
putting out her cane (for we all carry canes or sticks on 
our walks) she touched the green surface, and lo, it was 
hard as marble, frozen entirely over. Father said he 
supposed the water was filled with some delicate water- 
plant. " O," said I, " then these delicate water-plants 
must be all killed by this hard freezing." After a few 






c#Hte 




10 AMONG THE TREES. 

days, however, during which there had been a soft rain, 
Helen and I went again to the Green Lake, and the water, 
no longer frozen, was greener than ever, and putting in 
our sticks, we drew out long streamers of the delicate 
plant, not in the least injured by the freezing. It had 
very small bright green leaves, and the plants grew so 
thick and fine as to cover the water like an emerald 
carpet. The effect was charming, and I think when it 
was frozen, the ice must have looked lovely, veined 
throughout with these leaves and streaming vines. This 
Green Lake is a favorite resort of ours. It is not far 
from the house and affords a good field for experimenting 
in various ways. Helen's resources are unfailing, and 
these wild brooks and mossy stones are delightful imple- 
ments provided to our hands. We have spent I cannot 
tell you how much time in constructing a waterfall as a 
tributary to the Green Lake. One of these streams 
formed by the trickling water through the cliffs, encoun- 
tered, on its passage to the lake below, a large rock, and 
in a very quiet way slipped under it, disappearing forever, 
and entering the basin by some subterranean passage. 
We thought it would be a great improvement if this 
graceful streamlet could be induced to tumble over, 
instead of stealing under, this rough rock, and after hard 
labor we contrived to fill up the entrance to the under- 
ground channel, and thus our sparkling little friend was 
ail ashore. We had arranged the pathway we wished it 
to take, making it attractive with glistening pebbles and 
mossy stones, and by placing barriers to prevent its 
running away at certain points, we at length succeeded 
in enticing this wild littie mountain wanderer to try our 
improvement. The trial was quite satisfactory, and it 
has ever since danced gayly along its sunny pathway, 



AMONG THE TREES. 11 

tumbling with a very respectable splash over the rock, 
and from that down the steep bank into the lake below. 
All winter too, through the cracks in the high rocks, 
we could see the pure mountain water trickling down 
over mosses green as emeralds, often covered with a 
coating of ice and long icicles hanging amongst them, 
but they never losing their verdure. Ice-plants they 
truly were. We picked some of this moss from the cold 
rocks all sparkling with freezing water. We found that 
it grew in the slenderest, frailest threads, a few inches 
long, of velvety softness and most brilliant green. We 
tried to make it live in the house in a nice warm place, 
under glass and amidst graceful tropical ferns. It looked 
fresh and lovely for a day or two, and was as beautiful, I 
am sure, as any tropical moss can be, but after a little 
while it began to turn brown, and lost all its beauty. I 
suppose it longed for the cold, oozing mountain drops, 
the long bright icicles, and its chosen home in the fairy 
little hollows of the old gray rocks, for all our care could 
not make it nourish in the house. It was made to adorn 
and deck those grim and savage ledges, to glitter under 
icy water, and give a glow and grace to the dreariest 
wintry days. But we found many beautiful mosses in 
the woods that did flourish very well in the house. Of 
these I must tell you in my next; they were steadfast. 
friends all through the winter and are worthy of an 
affectionate tribute. 

February 20. 

These woodland mosses and lichens are very unlike 

those we found growing in the crevices of the wet rocks, 

being as tough and enduring as the others are delicate 

and frail. Some grew upon the ground like little ever- 



12 AMONG THE TREES. 

green trees, trim, compact, and regular; others like grace- 
ful little ferns ; and a favorite kind we could strip from 
the trunks of old trees in pieces as large as a dinner 
plate. This was a very thin kind of moss, of a dark 
green ground, and dotted all over with brighter green 
dots, and we called it the carpet moss. Then we found 
perfectly round balls, with a soft covering, and stand- 
ing thickly upon them short stems with the round- 
est green heads. These we called pincushion mosses, 
and you could not believe, unless you saw them, how 
much they look like plump little cushions stuck full of 
green pins. Another beautiful moss was more rare and 
grew upon the decaying stumps of trees. This was a 
beautiful metallic green below, and tipped with scarlet, 
It was delightful to see this under the microscope ; the 
green stalk, which to the naked eye seemed thickly set 
with shining dots, became a perfect forest of transparent 
branches with glittering emerald tips, the whole finished 
off with a brilliant scarlet crown. Then came the sol- 
dier-moss, where the dear little red caps fit on the heads 
of the slender stems, and can so prettily be drawn off, 
to the delight of children ; and the fairy-cups, the pale 
green lichens, little cups and vases, some of them three 
stories high, — that is, a little saucer below, from which 
springs a slender stem, expanding into a little vase, out 
of the border of which come three or four of the tiniest 
cups arranged along the edge, all perfectly formed and 
ready for an elfin festival. 

The beautiful freaks of nature in these wild solitudes 
are worth investigating I assure you. The graceful 
shapes, the soft, harmonious colors, adorning these al- 
most unseen creations, would astonish those who have 
never given them a look or a thought. Upon the limbs 



AMONG THE TREES. 13 

of some old apple-trees lying upon the side of a hill, we 
found a perfect flower-garden of its kind, fair forms and 
soft tinting, and an elaborate and fanciful crimping and 
scalloping and ornamenting of edges, quite bewildering 
to the observer. One would be disposed to pass by a 
collection of unsightly old apple-tree boughs, with no 
notice except to wonder why they were permitted to 
cumber the ground. 

But these were covered with beauty. We would find, 
within a space of five or six inches, enough to excite our 
wondering delight, not only for the moment, but for the 
winter, as these retain their beauty for months. 

In their arrangement there would generally be, first, a 
flat gray groundwork running around the limb, a sort 
of little tray, upon which would be clustered the vary- 
ing forms I spoke of. Sometimes simple leaf-shapes, 
small and smooth, then leaf-shapes with waved and 
fluted edges, soft gray upon the upper side, pearly white 
upon the under, and the " silver linings " turning out 
with every curving edge. Amongst them would be 
found fair bell-shaped and wheel-shaped forms, little 
tubes swelling into perfect buds, buds expanding into 
what so much resembled flowers that the resemblance 
would be recognized by any one who would look at 
them. The quiet gray, which was the prevailing color, 
was often enlivened by gay touches of orange, purple, 
rose-color, and ashes of roses. Who would think that 
all this beauty of form and coloring could be found in 
mid-winter on such unpromising specimens, or that this 
retired spot in the country could be anything but dreary 
at the same season ; but there are compensations every- 
where, if we will but search them out. We have arranged 
through the winter vases filled with the dried seed-ves- 



14 AMONG THE TREES. 

sels of plants which we find in the woods and fields. 
You would be amazed at the variety and beauty of 
these. I cannot mention all, for many we do not know. 
By we I mean Aunt Emily, or Father, or any one who 
has some knowledge of nature. Isabella, Helen, and I 
do not know much of anything yet, but we shall know, 
and we have learned the names of some of these already, 
and can distinguish the bloomy purple of the sumac ; 
the rich browns and maroons of hemlock cones and 
larches ; the dear acorn cups ; the peculiar involucre of 
the hazel-nut; the stiff stems and quaint blossoms of the 
witch-hazel ; the folded carpels of the tulip-tree ; the 
spiny balls of the liquidambar ; the silvery shine of the 
everlasting, and the elegant berries of the wax-work ; and 
mingled with these and overtopping them, slender stems 
with feathery tips of airy lightness. The effect is beau- 
tiful, and they never fade ; and how wonderful it is that 
God should " clothe the grass of the field," even in its 
decay and death, with such varied and enduring beauty. 
" You are enthusiasts," said a lady who was visiting us : 
" how can you find anything to interest you out-of-doors 
in the country, in winter ?" I could not but think that 
if she would cultivate a little more enthusiasm, we should 
not so often hear the weary yawn, and the " O dear, 
what shall I do with myself? " 

February 21. 
We have found the greatest pleasure all winter in a 
glass case which we have for flowers. Ours is of domes- 
tic manufacture, and not as handsome as those made in 
cities, of costly materials ; but it looks very well indeed, 
and is a treasure in our country home. Father had a 
good-sized box made of black walnut, and lined with 



AMONG THE TREES. 15 

zinc, and the glass cover he made himself when at home 
in the evenings. I thought this part very difficult, but 
he found it a pleasant amusement. He brought home 
a glazier's diamond to cut the large plates of glass the 
proper size, then, bringing the edges together, and keep- 
ing them so with some help from his several assistants, 
he pasted strips of strong buff paper over the seams on 
the outside. After these were dry, he turned the cover 
carefully over, and pasted the inside seams also. This 
has answered every purpose ; it has been used for 
months, and strange as it may seem, the paper has 
never peeled off, though there is so much moisture 
within. Around the upper edge of the box is a narrow 
shelf with a groove in it, upon which the glass cover 
rests, and from which it can be lifted at pleasure. 

John covered the bottom of the box with pieces of 
charcoal, then filled it with nicely prepared earth, and it 
was ready for experiments. A botanical friend in the 
city sent out a basket of treasures from a greenhouse, 
and we found great satisfaction in giving these a home 
in our new case. In the first place, there was an air- 
plant, such a queer looking thing, fastened upon a piece 
of wood, with the roots standing up in all directions, to 
draw nourishment from the air, for with the earth they 
have nothing to do. This plant has no beauty at pres- 
ent, though it is said to bear a splendid flower, but even 
if it never blossoms, it has an interest for us. It whis- 
pers of those wondrous tropical woods always so de- 
lightful to read about ; those tangled labyrinths of bloom, 
where the sunshine finds its way through musky groves 
and flowering trees, where the hot and humid atmos- 
phere nourishes in gorgeous splendor those brilliant 
Orcnids whose blossoms take the aspect of airy insects, 



16 AMONG THE TREES. 

and insects glitter like flying blossoms, and bright birds 
take the tints of the rainbow. Next to the air-plant 
came a fair tropical fern, tall and stately ; then two or 
three more ferns, fine-leaved and delicate, among them 
that most graceful and exquisite of ferns, the tropical 
maiden-hair, — the small, beautiful green leaves, strung 
along upon a slight stem like a thread of amber or a 
golden hair from the brow of some fair maid. Then 
came a tall, stiff plant without one trace of grace or 
beauty, but it is accepted and treated with all respect, 
for who knows what may come of it ? Then two or three 
unknown plants of elegant habits of growth and highly 
ornamented ; then a quaint-looking little plant, singularly 
marked with pure white lines and spots upon a most 
vivid green ground, and bound around the edge with a 
silvery white binding. We found room for all these 
foreign celebrities, but we did not wholly slight the 
favorites upon our own soil. We went to the woods 
and found the nice carpet moss to cover the ground, and 
T begged Aunt Emily to find a place for a dear little 
pincushion-moss, about the size of one of our old-fash- 
ioned china tea-cups; perfectly formed it was and stuck 
brimful of pins. We also selected two or three charming 
little ferns, genteel enough to be introduced into the 
most aristocratic society. 

We put down the soft emerald carpet, then upon one 
side we made an excavation, stoned it all around with 
prettily colored shells and stones, fitted into the bottom 
a small glass cup which did not show, filled this with 
water and placed at the edges the graceful, feathery 
ferns, to droop above the tiny lake. Helen found a 
slender twig overgrown with those wonderful lichens with 
orange and scarlet tips, and this, thrown across the lake. 



AMONG THE TREES. 17 

was a rustic bridge. A stone beautiful with the freshest 
mossy covering, became a bold headland by the water's 
side, and one or two pearly, buff-colored shells, thin as a 
finger nail and as transparent, floated like fairy boats 
upon the fairy tide. The pincushion was placed be- 
neath the delicate maiden-hair, the air-plant honorably 
stationed, and all the others arranged in the most desirable 
positions. 

The plants were then generously watered, the cover 
placed over them and there they are at this moment, 
fresh and dewy and unfading ; and if the fairies do not 
come every moonlight night to swing on those ferns, 
dance upon that bridge, and sail in those amber skiffs, it 
is their own loss. These plants have been there more 
than two months and are fresh as ever. No storm dis- 
turbs their serene lives, no glare of sunshine dries up 
the dewy sparkles on leaf and tip. In tranquil beauty 
they defy all the dust and turmoil of life, secure in their 
quiet paradise, and gifted apparently with the freshness 
of immortal youth. 

If the cases are perfectly air-tight, the plants require 
watering but once or twice a year, perhaps not as often ; 
but ours is not quite air-tight, and our plants get a 
sprinkling once in three or four weeks. 

Many wonder how these plants can thrive, shut in 
from the fresh air usually considered so essential to the 
prosperity of plants. I do not pretend to understand it, 
but will quote for your edification a sentence upon the 
subject which Isabella read the other day from some 
scientific essay. " The deterioration of the atmosphere 
is daily counteracted by an opposite process of purifica- 
tion, so that amidst the vicissitudes of perpetual change, 
the air is maintained in a state of nearly uniform purity 
2 



18 AMONG THE TREES. 

and serves over and over again the purposes of vegeta- 
tion." The writer then proves his theory by nitrogens, 
oxygens, etc., but this I spare you. It is enough for our 
purpose if these delightful cases keep our treasures in 
perfect preservation under circumstances that we should 
have said would be certain death, and we rather think 
that several of our learned friends, who " know every- 
thing," so to speak, would have said the same awhile 
ago. We often place bouquets of rare flowers beneath 
the glass and they remain fresh for weeks. One bouquet, 
in particular, had in the centre a spike of rare foreign 
lilies, only two of the lower ones being in bloom and 
eight or ten buds above. The spike remained in fine 
preservation, and every bud blossomed. There are many 
small and brilliant greenhouse plants which thrive well 
in these cases, and contrast charmingly with the deep ver- 
dure of the ferns, giving a lightness and elegance to the 
affair which is very agreeable. In selecting plants, it is 
desirable to get those which do not grow large, or which 
are of very slow growth, that they may not become too 
much crowded. Our largest fern reached the top of the 
cover some time since, and seemed disposed to take up 
so much more room than we could afford to give it, that 
we have sacrificed several of its beautiful fronds for the 
good of the other members of our " happy family." 

February 25. 

I have told you that some of the birds stay here all 
winter. We have become very intimate with the sociable 
little chickadees, and they really follow us round in the 
woods with an amusing little air of curiosity, and they 
do not hesitate to jump on the edges of our baskets and 
examine their contents, if we leave them upon the 



AMONG THE TREES. 19 

ground. The plump little snow-birds and the wrens, and 
the creeper, and the nut-hatch, are all friends, and we 
intend to know a good deal about birds in due time, and 
by and by we may cultivate insect friendships, but the 
truth is that we are not yet sufficiently enlightened to 
get over a horror of bugs and all kinds of crawling 
things. Perhaps we shall when we know more, and 
Isabella has already begun to find entomology delightful, 
so far as she has gone, which is to the examination of 
the delicate gossamer wings of some of the bright little 
insects we find. 

The birds, as a general thing, have but little fear of us ; 
they seem rather to like us, and we often collect little 
groups near the piazza by a judicious distribution of 
crumbs. Mr. Willis has somewhere a pretty account of 
the success which he had in enticing birds to come and 
eat breakfast on the roof of his piazza in the winter, 
and how he and his children used to watch these little 
friends, seeing them come in flocks from the far-off 
cliffs in the early winter mornings, bravely battling the 
strong winds of the ice-bound Hudson and the snow- 
storm or the rushing rain; steering with trusting con- 
fidence to the sheltered spot where they were sure of 
finding the desired refreshment. We think we shall be 
as successful as Mr. Willis, for the birds know how to 
find out their true friends. 

The morning after we arrived here, I looked out on 
the piazza, and there, to my astonishment, beheld a 
splendid peacock. " O Helen," I called, " did you 
know there were peacocks here ? " She came with all 
speed, and so did Father and all the family, to admire 
the beautiful stranger who stood there in the bright 
wintry sunshine. We gave him a nice breakfast, and 



20 AMONG THE TREES. 

every morning there we found him when we came from 
breakfast. 

We hoped he belonged to the place, he was so decid- 
edly ornamental, especially when perched upon a favorite 
post near the front door, his brilliant tail sweeping the 
steps. But Father said that he was the property of the 
gentleman whose country seat is next us, and that he 
finds his way to our premises through a hole in the 
hedge. He stays with us, however, most of the time, 
and likes our style of entertaining him. How handsome 
peacocks are ! the blue around the neck of this one sur- 
passes in brilliancy our favorite ultramarine, and the gold 
and green are inimitable ; and as for the eyes in the 
gorgeous tail-feathers, they are wonders indeed. Pea- 
cocks seem not to have very estimable characters ; their 
voices are discordant, and they are said to be quarrel- 
some, and " proudas a peacock " has become a prov- 
erb. But this one shows no touch of pride, and has a 
timid, gentle grace, that has won all our hearts. 

February 28. 

You would enjoy walking with us through these 
charming mountain paths, stopping every minute to 
examine the lovely mosses, or the opening leaf-buds, or 
to inclose with protecting sticks some little plant just 
struggling up through the dead leaves, whose locality 
we wish to mark, expecting that it will be adorned with 
a fair blossom by and by. Already the tintings of spring 
are touching many of the trees around us, and our walks 
grow daily more enchanting. From all these hills we 
get glimpses of quiet, rural scenery, and often views of 
wonderful beauty. From one point to which we walked 
yesterday, we looked over hills and valleys and glistening 



AMONG THE TREES. 21 

water to the distant city. The air was clear, and as 
we gazed, we saw distinctly the spire of old Trinity. 
How strange it seemed. Here we stood in perfect soli- 
tude ; not a sound to be heard but the occasional note of 
a forest bird, or the rush of mountain streams, — sounds 
so suggestive of solitude. The hand of man has neither 
spoiled nor improved these wild-wood retreats ; the old 
trees and the young trees grow side by side, and every 
vagrant vine is allowed to rise or fall as " nature pleases." 
The morning was perfect; the soft spring air was full of 
prophetic sweetness, the sky above had the blue of May, 
and the delicate breeze a celestial purity as if it came 
from heaven. And there was the tapering spire of Trinity 
Church, and below it Wall Street, and Broadway, and 
New York city, — that realization of all bustle and busi- 
ness and unrest, with its sights, and its sounds, and its 
surging tide of humanity, with their hopes and fears, 
their sins and sorrows, their " battle and murder and 
sudden death." 

March 15. 
" Winter is over and gone, and the time of the singing 
of birds has come." The robins and the bluebirds have 
been here more than two weeks. Darlings of old and 
young are these heralds of the approaching spring. The 
robin is too well-known to require any description, and 
his sweet song is familiar to all. Blue birds also are 
very abundant here, singing delightfully and flashing 
their beautiful wings with a peculiar grace. On a tree 
quite near my window, a blue jay has just perched. 
Such a beauty as he is, larger than the common blue- 
bird and more distinguished looking, — brilliant in color, 
the long tail of the glossiest blue with curving bars of 



22 AMONG THE TREES 

black and tips of white, with white vest and graceful 
black collar, and a jaunty crest of glittering, purplish 
blue. Quite a dandy in appearance, and he somehow 
seems conscious of his good looks and vain of them. 
His song is peculiar; a rattling gush of noise not easily 
described, not very musical, though now and then you 
catch a sweet note. Blue jays, however, are not as good 
as they are handsome. They are lawless depredators on 
the rights of other birds, and accomplished and irreclaim- 
able thieves. It is said they will even go to the nests of 
smaller birds and devour the poor little young ones, but 
that seems too bad to believe. It is true, though, that 
they have a bad reputation, and are not loved or trusted 
in bird society. 

March is truly here, fitful and blustering, but promising 
something delightful to us through all its caprices, and 
often bringing, on its rushing wings, a soft glow, a sweet 
vernal breath that must have been rifled from the ap- 
proaching flower-crowned April. The days too are 
growing long, and the sun looks in at our windows an 
hour earlier than he once did, and every day we are 
drawing nearer to those golden summer mornings in the 
country, of which we know so little. The streams 
" have all set out to meet the sea," in earnest, though 
our mountain streams have been on their joyous way all 
winter, no frost having fettered them ; but just now the 
spring rains have filled them to the brim and they dash 
onward with a resounding roar. These dancing streams 
are the ornaments exactly adapted to the scenery around. 
As we go to church at the village a mile or two away, 
we cross seventeen of these graceful wanderers, some of 
them insignificant, it is true, not much broader than a 
floating ribbon as they glance through the meadows, but 



AMONG THE TREES. 23 

Helen and I count every one, and each has its own 
charm. Some are rushing and foamy torrents, hurrying 
down the hills and dashing over stone walls and speeding 
away in answer to that mysterious call from the ocean ; 
others are quiet and almost silent as they follow the 
same resistless law, and all have that inimitable grace 
which is the attribute of water everywhere. I have just 
learned Tennyson's " Song of the Brook ;" and if you 
could see ours which " sparkles out among the fern and 
bickers down the valley," you would, I am sure, deem it 
worthy of a poet's song. We have adorned it with 
numerous pools, cascades, and rapids, and beautified it 
in various ways. When we first came here it was in a 
most neglected condition. The falling leaves had choked 
its flow, and the old limbs of trees which had fallen in 
from time to time had loaded it with unsightly sticks, 
and, altogether, it had a forlorn appearance. But Uncle 
Charles, who was here then, agreed with us that it had 
great capabilities, and I cannot tell you how many hours 
he worked with Helen and me to get things into better 
order. It is true that we often had assistance from very 
dignified hands and very fastidious fingers, but we three 
were the real solid workers. With India-rubber boots 
we were not afraid of pretty deep wading, and it is a 
fact that White-toes, our great black dog (black all but 
the white toes), did his part towards beautifying this 
favorite haunt of ours. He always went with us, and 
as we would poke out the old sticks which had so long 
had possession of all the desirable curves and hollows, 
he would seize them in his teeth and transport them to 
parts unknown. In one place we made a delicious pool, 
cool and clear, by piling large moss-covered rocks in a 
curve across the brook ; then others we placed at suitable 



24 AMONG THE TREES. 

heights and distances below these, and over all the water 
sweeps in a series of cascades very satisfactory to the 
proprietors. We have also begun our grotto or her- 
mitage, in the construction of which we intend so to 
combine the beauties of nature and art, that if you do 
not pronounce it faultless when you see it, it will be no 
fault of ours. 

Ever since we came here, we have been looking for a 
suitable place for this, and at length we think we have 
found one on the side of a steep bank up the hills, where 
is a scoop or concavity of considerable size, formed 
apparently by a slide of part of the hill at some former 
time. Straight up at the back of this curve grows a 
prettily formed tree, and just where it reaches the top 
of the bank it sends out horizontal branches, sweeping 
the ground above and forming a sort of bower over the 
hollow below. This space below the tree is sufficiently 
large for our purpose, and John has smoothed the ground 
nicely for us. There have been many fine days when 
we could work upon it, and we have made some progress 
already. We have begun to pave it with the prettiest 
stones that we can find, and these mountains abound in 
stones of soft tints, which are many of them adorned 
with soft touches of moss or lichens. We shall build 
rustic curves and recesses for rural matters of all 
kinds. I advise all young persons who live in the 
country to begin at once to build a grotto ; it is most 
fascinating work, and new ideas keep coming into one's 
head all the time. When we are ready for that im- 
portant step, we shall petition John to place some large, 
rough rocks, which we cannot manage, so as to form a 
circular front, leaving an opening for an entrance, and 
here and there an aperture to admit light enough, for we 



AMONG THE TREES. 25 

intend that the light shall be of the " dim, religious," 
hermit kind. We shall select our favorites among the 
wild vines which grow profusely on the hills, as soon as 
the advancing spring shows us their leaves ; and these 
we shall train over the rocky front until they meet the 
tree above, and by and by they will form a thick and 
verdant covering that will captivate the eye and heart 
of any hermit of taste who may chance to be wandering 
in these parts. Within we shall have low, mossy rocks 
for seats, and a table-shaped rock for manuscripts and 
books, and a hermit lamp, and a small crucifix which 
Helen has carved out of smooth, brown bark, and all 
other matters that we can muster which can grace this 
sylvan lodge. We found the other day a beautiful 
stone, circular in form, but flat upon the top, and all 
around this ran a most curious embroidery of grayish 
green lichens, looking like a delicate floral wreath thrown 
down upon the stone. This will do to place our hermit 
lamp upon. We shall carpet our rock-paved floor with 
mosses and lichens, and press into our service the forest 
blossoms and all woodland treasures. Helen and I have 
really learned to do what may be called pretty hard 
work, for John's services are not always to be obtained 
at the right moment. He has an idea in his faithful 
head that there are some things of more importance to 
be attended to, and good-natured as he always is, it is 
impossible to dislodge this one idea. 

" Your Father, Miss Helen," he will say, " said for 
this to be done, but after a spell I shall do what you 
wish." " After a spell" is too indefinite often to suit us, 
so that we frequently perform wonders ourselves. We 
have a plan in our heads which we hope to carry out 
with some help from John, and that is, to excavate a 



26 AMONG THE TREES. 

secret passage to open on the hill above, as it is not very 
far and we are expert diggers already. A pretty little 
stream runs just below the bank on which our grotto is 
built, and Helen has constructed an anchoret's cup, as 
she calls it, of birch bark, and fastened it by a little 
chain to one of the branches of the overhanging tree. 

By a gentle dip-down of the bough, as you stand 
above the stream, the cup drops into the water, and we 
can fill and draw it up at pleasure to sprinkle the mosses, 
ferns, and vines. I must own to you, however, that the 
lightness of the birch bark inclines our cup to float 
rather than to sink, but a smooth white stone which we 
have fitted closely into it, makes it work admirably. 
Hermits, of course, should not have worldly cups of 
china or silver, and this birch bark, with the " philos- 
opher's stone" in it, is all in keeping. We have also a 
" scallop-shell," brought from the Holy Land, but no 
u palm-branch." Perhaps a fork of witch-hazel may 
do, and this we can have, as a tree grows close by. 

Our tree above, which is a fine beech, will soon hang 

out its dense and beautiful foliage. Then our grotto will 

be shrouded in a mysterious green glimmer, and the 

light through the stirring leaves will play fitfully on the 

walls in true hermit style. 

March 25. 

We, I mean now the younger part of our family, 
know little or nothing yet of birds, or flowers, or trees, or 
any of the "boundless store of charms, which Nature to 
her votary yields." But we expect to know. Father 
has always been a - student in these matters, though of 
late years, having lived in cities, he has had few oppor- 
tunities to indulge these tastes, but he has never lost his 
early interest in these pursuits nor forgotten his early 



AMONG THE TREES. 27 

acquisitions, and he is ever ready to explore and examine 
and study scientifically everything which is presented, 
and he makes us understand things as we go along, and 
never gets out of patience with our stupidity, and now 
that we have come to the country to live, he is delighted 
to take up the old threads and follow the paths so 
familiar in earlier years. As for Aunt Emily, so de- 
lightful to her seems a wandering, woodland life, — 

" On pastoral hill or pastoral vale, 
By the swift stream or under the broad tree," — 

that she looks with a kind of envy on the Indians. 

Not that the wigwams which she has examined, or 
those who inhabit them, come up exactly to her ideas of 
" high romance," or even of tolerable comfort ; but to 
" fold up one's tent like the Arab," presents a captivating 
picture of easy social life, so much more delightful than 
being tied hand and foot to houses and bureaus and 
bedsteads, and enslaved by all those fettering and weari- 
some conventionalities which fritter away existence. 
She says she always feels thankful that her lot in early 
life was not cast in a city. If it had been, she would 
have been a stranger to that which has been one of the 
greatest enjoyments of her existence, — an acquaintance 
with and tender love for all that is found in nature's 
domain. As it was, however, she and her brothers and 
sisters dwelt in a fair New England village, where the 
encircling woods were set like a dark frame around the 
bright and beautiful plain upon which were clustered 
the tasteful dwellings of a refined and cultivated com- 
munity, and a walk of a few minutes would bring one 
beneath the tall old pines, in the midst of rough rocks, 
mosses, and wild flowers. Those fragrant piny woods. 



28 AMONG THE TREES. 

how delicious was the odor, and how mysterious and 
captivating the low ocean murmur amongst the branches, 
though no breath of wind might be astir! And below 
the bank the rapid river dashing down sea-ward, with 
romantic natural falls, foaming and tumbling over great 
black rocks, with no object in the world but to look 
pretty and picturesque ; and the prim artificial falls 
smoothly gliding over wooden barriers, with no time for 
dimpling smiles or the flinging of feathery spray; but 
bringing with patient industry the wealth of waters, and 
even the wild freedom and fantastic turmoil of their 
giddy sisters, to bear upon the machinery of saw-mills 
and cotton factories. 

Besides the woodland privileges, there was a college 
in this fair New England village, which dispensed in- 
tellectual feasts of a high order, both through books and 
men. Among the Professors was a gentleman of talent 
and varied acquirements, who was also a distinguished 
botanist. He said he could not feel easy anywhere 
unless the young persons around were cultivating those 
tastes for simple pleasures which w^ould be to them a 
source of continual improvement and enjoyment. He 
invited several of the young ladies to study botany, 
offering to assist them at certain hours when at leisure. 
A class was formed of which Aunt Emily and her sisters 
were members. Many years have passed since then ; 
the gifted Professor was called from the feast of life in 
his prime, and severed far and wide are those then form- 
ing the Professor's class. But she has never lost the 
tastes then cultivated for those quiet country pleasures. 
Every one of the fair tribe of blossoms which had its 
habitat in that New England village became a personal 
and beloved friend ; and she never meets one of their 



AMONG THE TREES. 29 

sweet faces anywhere to this day, without a fond re- 
collection of that cheerful youlhful group, and a grate- 
ful and affectionate remembrance of the accomplished 
scholar, who, absorbed as he was in the engagements 
growing out of a literary and professional career, yet 
found time to instill into the minds of those young girls 
such tastes for simple, natural pursuits, as have walked 
with them through all the vicissitudes of life and been a 
"joy forever." His memory is enshrined in their hearts, 
linked to the beautiful science he so loved. 

Those sylvan tramps in those fresh New England 
woods, how delightful they were ! At first for the mere 
pleasure of the stroll, and picking at random the flowers 
they found; then, as the interest grew with growing 
information, the plants were taken up, root and branch, 
deposited in the tin botanical boxes, and carried home to 
be examined with the most patient investigation ; not 
by Gray's Botany, for that was not, but by Eaton's, Tor- 
rey's, and Nuttall's Botanies, and that charming book, 
" Bigelow's Plants of Boston,"' which is a great favorite 
of ours at this time. In all these books the flowers were 
arranged by the Linnsean system, or the Artificial, as it 
is called ; about this I shall tell you by and by. What a 
pleasure it was to find a flower in the woods, take it home, 
examine and find it out without aid, and how faithful 
and patient were those young students in conquering 
the technical terms and understanding the minute de- 
scriptions. The girls all had books in which to register 
the names of their treasures, the botanical and common 
names, the families, time of flowering, etc., and a margin, 
as the Professor called it, in which to put down any 
item which the young student thought worth chronicling. 

She says that one of the regrets of her life is the loss 



30 AMONG THE TREES. 

of this precious manuscript of hers, which has disap- 
peared in some of the movings and upturnings, and the 
only entry in her margin which she can remember is that 
the dandelion is not a native of this country, but was 
introduced from the Old World. It has borne trans- 
planting wonderfully well. During the first summer of 
their botanical studies, they examined over one hundred 
wild flowers. Aunt Emily says the Professor would not 
look at a cultivated flower, however handsome, in a 
botanical light; he said they were fine to the eye, but 
untrue, like many cultivated things. 

In addition to the flowers which these girls could find 
themselves, the Professor would go off on pilgrimages to 
wet and inaccessible places where they could not go, 
and return laden with rarities, such as the wonderful 
Sarracenia, or pitcher-plant ; the Cypripedium, or moc- 
casin-flower ; the splendid cardinal-flower, the purple 
fringed Orchis, and Kalmia, or mountain laurel, which 
grew far from the village. Other wonders came stowed 
away occasionally in the Professor's box, for he was a 
student of nature in all her departments. Often a beau- 
tiful mineral, a gorgeous butterfly or glittering beetle, 
an elegant lizard or wonderful spider, and once a. bril- 
liant little snake. These choice treasures were received 
and examined with all the interest of youth and enthu- 
siasm, — though Aunt Emily says that, to tell the truth, 
they were as much the dread and detestation of the 
lady, that perfect paragon of nicety, at whose house the 
Professor had rooms, as they were delightful to him and 
his young students. This lady said she had no objections 
to scientific pursuits and examinations in their proper 
place, " but that place was not in a well-regulated house ; 
such a load of trash thrown right down upon a parlor 



AMONG THE TREES 31 

table or carpet, a horrid bug in a cut-glass tumbler, and 
another pinned up in the nicely starched window curtain ! 
I should not wonder," she added, " if I found a snake in 
the vinegar cruet." (I think she would if she had bor- 
rowed the Professor's microscope.) 

She said she thought it was more a person's duty to 
keep things in order than to hunt up all this rubbish 
which grows in the woods and belongs there, not in a 
nice parlor. 

This is what she thought, and she is not the only one 
who thinks so; an elegant lady who has been with us, 
says she is exactly of her opinion ; and Aunt Emily says 
that, after all these years, she will not say that she had 
not strong arguments on her side, for she well remembers 
that immaculate parlor when entered by that foraging 
party returning from an excursion. The green blinds 
drawn so as to exclude all but a faint light, the white 
curtains looped back exactly even, the Professor's books 
carefully arranged in his book-case, only a few handsome 
ones left out to adorn the polished centre-table, the 
chairs with perfect propriety sitting still in their places, 
the carpet guiltless of a shred; everything quiet, shady, 
cool, the very quintessence of nicety. Five minutes 
after, and who would have known that room for the 
same? It was indeed "enough to provoke a saint," as 
the lady used to say. But those young botanists (and 
the Professor as well) were then of opinion that chairs, 
tables, carpets, and even starched window curtains, were 
made to accommodate such treasures ; and shocking as 
such sentiments are, to be expressed by a housekeeper, 
Aunt Emily acknowledges that to this day a flower, a 
forest blossom, especially of the kind she then learned to 
love, has in her eyes a value of a peculiar kind, which is 



32 



AMONG THE TREES. 



not possessed by velvet carpets, or inlaid tables, or any 
work of art. 




Oxalis-violacea. 

April 1. 

'• Again has come the spring-time, 
With the crocus's golden bloom, 
The smell of the fresh-turned earth-mould, 
And the violet's perfume " 

To-day I have learned the piece in which is this verse, 
and the yellow crocus and blue violet are adorning the 
flower vase on my table. O Rose, we have found the 
country now. We thought we had found it in the winter, 
but within the past two weeks it has put on so many 
new things that we should hardly believe it to be the 



AMONG THE TREES. 33 

same. It stands before us now, with its fragrant woods 
enveloped in the soft green veil of early leaves, with 
silvery silken tassels, or crimson tinted tips; with its 
singing birds, its springing blossoms, its changing skies, 
its soft wood-odors, its wonderful rural noises that have 
such a clear ring and sound so like the free, fresh life of 
the woods and fields. Ah yes, all things, noises and all, 
are softened, and beautified, and glorified by the magic 
touch of spring. Now is the time to be in the country, 
to watch from day to day these fair transformations, and 
to experience that pure and deep delight which comes 
from communing with the works of God. 

We found no flowers in blossom in March, though we 
fully expected to, and it seemed to me that we looked 
under almost every leaf in the woods. We found many 
in a state of preparation, and doubtless should have 
found some in bloom during the last few days of the 
month, if a pouring rain had not kept even our daring 
feet within. But on this lovely April morn the sun 
looked through fleecy, floating clouds upon as fair a 
scene as the eye could wish to see. We were all tempted 
out soon after breakfast, and reaching the hills, I saw on 
the edge of a little precipice, a few soft, green leaves 
growing far up on the pinkish stem of a delicate plant, 
and above these a sweet blossom of white, flushed with 
pink, looking down upon five or six smaller blossoms of 
the same shape and color, only on shorter stems and not 
half as large as the top flower. I looked at it with 
delight, thinking it a lovely family, the mother and her 
little children, and was just calling to Helen to come 
and see what I had discovered, when she called out to 
me, " O Mary, come here ; I have found a hen and 
chickens ;" and to be sure she had found another family 

3 



34 AMONG THE TREES. 

of the same kind. We thought this might be the 
spring-beauty, as a lady had told us that we probably 
should find that first. But we were mistaken. Gray's 
Botany forced us to give up the pretty name and take 
that of Thalictrum-anemonoides. Should you think they 
would have the heart to give such terrible names to 
delicate, guiltless blossoms? I dare say these scientific 
persons would think it an improvement if the human 
blossoms were classified in the same style. How nice to 
have them say to you, " Good morning, Fraxinus-quad- 
rangulata;" or to me, "A fine day, Amsonia-tabernse- 
montana." Suppose we should give up Rose and Mary 
and take these sweet and simple appellations. So much 
for our first spring flower, coming the first day of April, 
the pretty, delicate wind-flower, for it is a species of 
Anemone. Seriously, however, Rose, you must not falter 
before hard words, for in this guise does Science disguise 
herself, or rather the disguising is done by those votaries 
who lead you to her shrine. You cannot escape them, 
whatever path of science you may choose. 

Botany, the beloved of our hearts, is by no means an 
exception, though Nature, her priestess, pure and simple, 
"in pastoral array," waits beneath the trees for you, 
takes your hand in her very own, leads you over mossy 
rocks and by sparkling streams to dewy recesses where 
smile her own fair children. As you gaze upon these, 
decked in robes of violet or tints of rose, with heads 
serenely uplifted or bells of buff lowly bending, your 
inward thought is that some soft and endearing appella- 
tion awaits each one. Alas ! I grieve to say that this is 
but a fond delusion to be speedily dissipated. Now you 
must read carefully what is coming, — a few more of 
those choice botanical names by which my eye has been 
arrested. What do you think of these ? 



AMONG THE TREES. 35 

Cerastoscbcemus-macrostachya, 

Rhyncospora-Krieskernii, 

Amianthum-muscaetoxicum, 

Corrallorhiza odontorhiza, 

Plantanthera-Clephariglottis, 

Pycnanthemum-clino.podioides, 

and dozens of others I might quote, as bad or worse. 

Should you not think that a moderately gifted speller 
would be forever deterred from entering such a trying 
field; and how children can wield such unwieldy imple- 
ments I cannot imagine, yet certainly children ought to 
begin to study botany early. I cannot refrain from 
giving you some definitions of botany in a late scien- 
tific and popular article. 

" Botany is the science of plants. Theoretic or pure 
botany is either special, a part of natural history con- 
sisting of horismology, or, as it is usually called, terminol- 
ogy ; phytography (the description of plants) and taxon- 
omy, or systematology (the laws of arrangement) ; or 
it is general, comprising organography (the description 
of the organs of plants in relation to their external 
appearance) and histology (the science of the elemen- 
tary tissues of the organs), together constituting phytot- 
omy, or the anatomy of plants, and with phyto-chemis- 
try forming the basis of phyto-physiology (the science of 
their vital phenomena), and of phyto-pathology (the 
science of their diseases, etc). Important accessory 
branches of study are found in phyto-geography, the 
science of the distribution of plants over the globe; 
phyto-oryctology, or, as Enlicher calls it, phyto-history, 
the science of their fossil remains," etc. If botanical 
study is not made a sealed book, it is not the fault of 
the book-makers. 



rfb AMONG THE TREES. 

But do not be deterred from studying and loving it. 
Aunt Emily says she thinks it is possible to enjoy a 
great deal, and have a very tolerable knowledge of plants, 
their structure and habits, and when and where to find 
them, without fighting one's way through all these 
phytos, but she feels no alarm about our becoming very 
scientific, thinking that too great depth of acquirement 
is not the sin of the present order of young ladies. She 
says also that there is the great and unanswerable argu- 
ment for scientific names of some sort, that when you use 
such you know what you are talking about. Whether 
the words need be so long and so hard to spell is another 
thing. It is true though that in one village you may 
hear of May-flowers, in another of ground laurel, in 
another of snow-drops, in another of trailing arbutus, 
and when you see them they are the same thing. If 
they had told you of Epigea-repens you would have 
known at once what was meant. 

So of Anemones and many other flowers, — they call 
them May-flowers or spring-beauties, or any pretty or 
fanciful names. The trouble must be that the world in 
general will not fix upon any popular name, and so 
science must come in to make things exact. But even 
that admission is not enough to reconcile quite young 
beginners like us to words of six syllables in an unknown 
tongue, as — 

Apocynum-androssemifolium, 
Lycopodium-alopecuroides, etc. 

April 15. 

Do you think we live in the woods? We do, in a 
measure, it must be confessed ; still we do not spend all 
our time " flower-hunting," though we think the summer 



AMONG THE TREES. 37 

will be quite too short, and we cannot bear to lose the 
delicious airs which meet us on all the hills. Aunt 
Emily says the world has been too much with us, and it 
will not hurt us to be buried awhile in these green soli- 
tudes. 

We think our resources tolerably satisfying, although 
the lady I told you of said she should die of the blues 
if condemned to live in the country. We have books, 
friends, visitors, music, rides, and mountain rambles, 
with the privilege of finding ourselves in the hot and 
dusty city at any time when we choose to spend one 
hour to accomplish it. 

But hardly anything is so delightful to us as the feast 
to which Nature invites us at morn, at sunny noon, at 
dewy eve, and we intend to neglect a great many things 
which some persons consider duties ; at the same time, 
we shall attend to a great many things which some of 
our city friends think might just as well be neglected. 

We have household employments that come everyday, 
and we study somewhat, though not very elaborately ; 
still it is studying, and Father expects the Latin lessons 
to be prepared at evening at any rate. But he is very 
indulgent, and many of our daily avocations take but a 
few minutes, and the studying is usually done out-of- 
doors. It would be trying enough to take a stupid 
Latin book and sit down in the house these charming 
mornings ; but transport the books to the rustic seat 
beside the grotto, or under the great chestnut-trees by 
the brook, where the birds are singing and everything 
rejoicing, and it is no great hardship even to dig at Latin 
roots. We all agree upon one point, that no books can 
teach us better lessons than we can learn on the hills 
and in the valleys, and that to the reverent and faithful 



38 AMONG THE TREES. 

student of God's works, there comes a fresh and health 
ful spirit, a contentment and delight which is an exceed 
ing great reward. 

And when you are out in the dusky old woods, when 
their wild freedom and solemn grandeur sink into the 
heart, you have no idea of how little consequence seem 
dressing, and visiting, and the gossip of neighborhoods, 
and the unending forms and ceremonies which are heaped 
mountains high about that highly civilized state which is 
called society. 

It is really astonishing to find how many things can 
be done without, and yet every comfort be secured, every 
taste and talent cultivated ; and I know that if persons 
lived in the country and learned to feel an interest in ail 
that nature offers, they would not be obliged to invent 
so many absurdities in the way of fashions and pursuits 
to prevent life from hanging heavily on their hands. 
We find also that many of our visitors, even the fettered 
worshippers of city life, the bound slaves of fashion, 
who have no more individuality than the squares of a 
chess-board, — even they confess that the usages of the 
dusty town seem unnatural to them, when they find 
themselves beneath the heavy shade of these old trees, 
surrounded by the grand and simple forms which make 
up the domain of Nature. In the midst of these sur- 
roundings they sometimes ask themselves the question 
if There is not a simpler and a higher life than they have 
yet found. 

We intend to examine every flower we find, and I 
shall send you the botanical name and the picture of the 
flower when I can, and you must read the botanical 
description and put down names as we do ; and when 
you are here next summer, we will go over the flowery 



AMONG THE TREES. 39 

path again, and no doubt make many additions to our 
List. I hope you will learn to draw flowers from nature. 
It is the only true way, and by patient practice it soon 
becomes a delightful employment. Begin with a simple 
stem, with a leaf or two and a bud perhaps, or take a 
little simple flower by itself, and draw it just as accu- 
rately as you can. Try a crocus, for that is easy, or 
a single flower of hyacinth or primrose. These are 
blooming in your yard, and many others perhaps as good 
to experiment with. You will be charmed with the 
pursuit. And, Rose, it is so satisfying to study botany 
by the flowers you find yourself in the woods. I have 
been able to find out several by my own wits, and when 
we get puzzled, as we sometimes do, Aunt Emily and 
all, we have only to put the difficult specimen in a vase 
till Father comes home, and he takes that and the micro- 
scope and Gray's Botany, and goes to work in the 
regular scientific style. 

He cuts off little bits of the stem and leaves, and puts 
them under the glass, and if he finds layers of wood in 
the stem, and net- work for the leaf- veins, and a few 
other things, he calls it an Exogenous plant, or belonging 
to the First Class. But if he finds no layers in the 
stem, and the leaf-veins parallel, he calls it an Endogenous 
plant, or belonging to the Second Class (and there are 
but these two Classes of Flowering Plants), and having 
found the Class, he goes on to other distinctions, and 
always finds out what the flower is. It is true that we 
examine flowers in the same way, only we have not the 
patience that he has ; and when a flower seems difficult, 
or not very pretty, we are apt to put it by for him, 
knowing that he will not give it up until he has made it 
spell out its own botanical name, no matter of how 



40 AMONG THE TREES. 

many syllables it is composed. It is my opinion that he 
likes better to examine some tormenting specimen to 
which you can get no clew from its resemblance to any- 
thing else, than those favorites of mine which you 
recognize at once as belonging to a certain family, 
because they look so much like some fair floral cousin 
whose acquaintance you have already made. Aunt 
Emily says that she studied Botany by the Linnsean, or 
" Artificial System," as it is called, which is founded 
upon the number of stamens and pistils in flowers ; those 
having three or four stamens being placed in the Third 
or Fourth Class, going up to the Twenty-fourth Class ; 
and she still loves this system because your interest is 
enlisted at once by beginning with the beautiful blossom. 
But this system is found, at the present day, to be imper- 
fect in some respects, and uncertain also. Gray's system 
is called the " Natural System," and is intended " to 
rank those plants next to each other in the classification 
which are really most alike in all respects, or which are 
constructed most nearly on the same particular plan." 

This system has many advantages over the Artificial, 
and Professor Gray's text-books are considered the books 
for botanical students in these days. But though the 
Natural System may be the best, I think it is difficult, 
because roots and stems and seed-vessels are of more 
consequence than blossoms, and these are so perplexing 
to beginners ; and to go to the root of the matter one 
must have a microscope, and every one who loves flowers 
and would like to understand about them cannot have a 
microscope. 

But I use Father's, and I wish I could tell you what 
inimitable beauty the least little bit of an anther or calyx 
puts on under the glass. One little stamen is more 



AMONG THE TREES. 41 

beautiful than any full-blown flower seen by the naked 

eye, and the inside of a flower or petal, which you can 

hardly see if you look ever so sharp, and which is often 

hidden from sight until the flower is taken apart, will 

look as if covered all over with jewels, and little coronets 

of pearls and diamonds are set upon every tiny tip. It 

almost disaffects one with what we call eye-sight, to 

find what a world of beauty is hidden away in every 

flower ; and not the flower only, but the soft and almost 

imperceptible down on every common leaf and stem, is 

sparkling with dewy gems and sweet colors, and a little 

sprig of moss looks like a tree from the enchanted forests 

of fairy land. 

April 25. 

The flowers are coming in such gay profusion that we 
are afraid some of them will escape our grasp. Wt? 
find quantities now on all the hills and in all the valleys, 
but we are often haunted with the thought that perhaps 
in some lonely dell or glade some beauty may expand 
its bright petals, and we not be there to see. But we 
have nothing to reproach ourselves with in the way of 
research in the region over which we travel. We know 
very well there is no blossom, however humble, that has 
not received a welcome from us. This morning, as we 
stood on the piazza after seeing Father ride away, the 
perfect beauty of the day made all of us feel like spend- 
ing a good part of it in the woods, and Aunt Emily and 
a lady visiting us, Isabella, Helen, and I, were soon 
ready for a sylvan tramp. As we left the house we saw 
Sarah, the cook, standing at the kitchen door with a 
wistful look upon her face, and Aunt Emily said, " Sarah, 
would you like to go out on the hills?" " O yes, 
ma'am, if I could leave my work." " There is no work 



42 AMONG THE TREES. 

of any consequence till it is time to get dinner ; you can 
come if you like and stay several hours." 

Sarah looked delighted, for, though not a "scientific 
botanist," she has a decided taste for woodcraft, and she 
soon came along with White-toes, who had just returned 
from his never-neglected escort of Father to the station. 
Sarah spent hours in exploring the mountain paths, and 
found as many flowers as any of us, and arranged a 
tasteful bouquet for the dining-room on her return. The 
pretty flowers of the Hepatica, our New Year's friend, 
are out in squadrons* They are prettier even than we 
thought them, so varied are their shades, as they lift to 
the light their bright blossoms of white, lilac, and blue. 
We have also found another very pretty Anemone, with 
a delicate, pinkish white bell nodding over fair green 
leaves. It is the Anemone-nemorosa. And the real 
spring-beauty has come ( Claytonia- Virginiana) ; frail and 
fair this is, looking hardly stout enough to stand up 
straight. It sends out from its fragile stem two long 
green leaves, and above these the flower-buds are curled 
up ; these open, the lower ones first, and so on till all 
are in bloom, delicate blossoms of palest pink with a 
deeper line in the centre. These are found in moist 
woods. 

We transplant many of these fair wild flowers, and 
hope they will come up and blossom early next spring. 
We have a feeling, however, that these children of the 
forest feel a distaste for any artificial homes, and it is 
said that they gradually disappear from the vicinity 
of cultivated lands; but we set them in what we call 
our forest garden, amidst their woodland kindred, and 
we hope they will never find out that ours is the " foot 
of civilization,'' since that is what they flee before. But 



AMONG THE TREES. 



43 




we have not forsaken the " garden flowers " which were 
our delight in all the years of city life, and we have 



44 AMONG THE TREES. 

flower-beds around the piazza which John is putting in 
order, assisted by the taste of the family ; and we intend 
to have the loveliest of flower gardens, genteel, culti- 
vated, fashionable front-yard-flowers, growing in trim 
propriety just where gardeners say they must, for we 
love these with a love that has grown up from child- 
hood ; but it is a different kind of tenderness from that 
which we feel for the beauties of the wild woods, those 
bewitching aborigines who have stolen into our hearts, 
and repay our affection with tints and scents of the 
gayest grace and sweetness whenever we visit their 
domains. I wish you could see them springing, with 
their own wild freedom, among the clefts and fissures of 
the rocks, decking the dizzy precipice with their airy- 
bells, and growing with careless security in strange and 
dangerous places where no art of man could ever make 
them grow, even if any human foot could scale the 
" toppling crags " they so delight in adorning. We went 
the other day on a long tramp over the mountains to a 
wild, sequestered spot, where a waterfall dashes over 
high rocks. Stately old hemlocks sent up their solemn 
shafts of almost black verdure all around the waterfall, 
and the depth of shade beneath them was almost 
like night; while, in glowing contrast, the high cliffs 
opposite were bright with a flood of sunshine, and 
gay with blossoms of Anemone, wild columbine, blood- 
root, squirrel-corn, and other early flowers, which were 
springing from every crevice, tier above tier, looking down 
w T ith an air of defiant beauty and perfect safety, as if 
saying, " Catch us, if you can ; " and catch them we 
could not, with all our enterprise, for the face of the 
cliff was almost perpendicular, and even Helen had to 
confess that their fortress could not be stormed by any 



AMONG THE TREES. 45 

battery we could bring to bear upon it. So we left 
them in their unscalable fastnesses. 

It is charming in our walks, to see little colonies all 
around, arrayed in robes of light and grace, clustering in 
fair neighborhoods and many varieties about the roots 
of some protecting old tree. Dancing in the sunshine 
with every passing breeze, they have the gay and social 
look of some favored human neighborhoods, where you 
see fair young heads nodding to fair young heads. 

We feel also the greatest courage about having a 
flower garden in the country, and a consignment of rare 
Southern roses and other plants from a friend, has helped 
us to begin in earnest. When we lived in the city, we 
thought we had pretty flowers in that little bit of a city 
lot, that beloved and cherished border around the green 
oval plot in that trim city yard. And so we had. 
Flowers are beautiful everywhere, but these were shut 
in with a great high fence, to keep out intruders; and 
everybody's great high house looking down on every 
side, and standing between them and the genial sun, 
the pure air, and the refreshing shower. It seems like an 
insult to these free, sweet denizens of nature, to put 
them in these prisons, though, to be sure, their sweet 
influences are needed there. But here we have so much 
out-of-doors, that our flowers, wild and tame, can have 
the sunshine and the shower in their season, and the 
" misty mountain winds shall be free to blow against 
them," and the bird, and the bee, and the butterfly shall 
visit them, and they shall look through the low palings, 
and nod and smile at the passing children ; and the 
children shall be treated to many a posy, and their young 
love encouraged for these floral friends who will be 
faithful to them through life. We intend to break off 



46 AMONG THE TREES. 

our beautiful flowers whenever we wish, for we mean to 
stand in awe of no gardener, like the lady who told us, 
the other day, that she longed to give us some flowers 
from her greenhouse, but was afraid of her gardener. 

To-day we have found yellow violets, the first I ever 
saw. I have learned Bryant's lines upon the yellow 
violet; he says he found it " blossoming beside the snow- 
bank's edges cold." We were not so fortunate, for the 
snow went from here long ago, though Helen says she 
supposes, when he wrote that, he lived where the snow 
stayed till March or April, so that, after all, he may not 
have found them any earlier than we. It is a beautiful 
flower, brilliant yellow, and "streaked with jet the 
glowing lip." As to the blue violets, time would fail 
me to describe them in all their variety and beauty. 
Every species grows here, I should think, though perhaps 
not every one, for there are nearly twenty varieties, but 
we have found a great many. Some that grow in damp 
spots are immense, the flower-stalks a foot or more in 
height; others growing on the rocks have pale blue 
petals and a very long spur; others are light blue, 
streaked with darker blue, and upon the mountain top 
we found the sweet-scented white ones. What a pity 
that the wild blue violets are not fragrant, so dear are 
they to the universal heart. 

But on a bank at some distance in front of the house, 
we found, the other day, fragrant blue violets in quanti- 
ties, all growing among the grass so thick, that, as you 
stand upon the steps, you can see the dash of blue over 
the bank, and the faint, delicious odor comes floating to 
you on every vagrant breeze. We examined these, and 
found them to be the sweet-scented English violets, 
placed here probably by some former occupant of the 



AMONG THE TREES. 



47 



house whose good taste is fully appreciated by his suc- 
cessors. 

April 30. 
I send you a list of the wild flowers to be found in 




Orchis-spectabile. 

April, and will do so through the summer. To-day we 
have found a floral curiosity, which interests us amaz- 



48 AMONG THE TREES. 

ingly; a double Anemone, looking like the most fairy- 
like and delicate little white rose. We fear to transplant 
it, but have marked the spot so as to know where to find 
them next year. Wild flowers are generally single, the 
doubling being merely the expansion of stamens and 
pistils into petals, and this is produced chiefly by culti- 
vation. The strict botanist. I believe, looks upon double 
flowers as monsters, but we are not strict botanists yet, 
and never shall be strict enough, I hope, to think this 
charming double Anemone a monster. We think it a 
perfect beauty, and hope to find ever so many more. 

For a week we have been watching a lovely spring 
Orchis ( Orchis-spectabilis), a plant fair enough to adorn 
the most fastidious flower garden, as indeed are many 
of our woodland friends. This has graceful green leaves, 
something like lily of the valley, and from these, the 
flower-stalk shoots up six or seven inches. To-day, 
several of the peculiar and elegant blossoms have opened, 
the arching petals are of delicate lilac, and the lip snowy 
white. 

There is a row of pretty sassafras-trees just beyond 
the stable, on the hill-side. These are new and interest- 
ing trees to all of us. The leaves are soft and shining, 
and of varied and curious shapes, and leaves, stems, and 
roots, have a spicy, aromatic taste. In Europe, this tree 
was once greatly celebrated for medicinal virtues which 
it was supposed to possess, and an express treatise was 
written upon it called " Sassafrasologia." 

We have found also the Dirca-palustris, or moose- 
wood, the only representative in North America of the 
Order Thymeleaceae, Mezereum Family. The shrub 
was covered with curious yellow, tubular flowers, grow- 
ing in bunches of threes, but no leaves have yet ap 



AMONG THE TREES. 49 

peared. Every day that we go out, we find something 
new, and the changes from day to day seem like magic. 
The Anemones and violets, and pretty wild geraniums, 
appear, as it were, without giving any warning; the 
columbines, bloodroot, and squirrel-corn, are not to be 
numbered, and the beautiful Cornus-florida lights up the 
woods in all directions ; the " floral preachers," jack-in- 
the-pulpit, are almost as numerous as their gayly robed 
congregations, such myriads of them start up all along 
the brooks. Some of these are very handsome, a pecul- 
iar whitish green, with rich stripings of purple and 
maroon. April has gone like a dream. It has been a 
soft and delightful month, with veiling mists and those 
tender showers that seem so much like the tears of 
children, — a gleam of sunshine all ready to sparkle out, 
and indeed sparkling out, before the tears are dry. 
Sweet, fitful, changeful April! thou shalt be ever dear 
and ever welcome in thy own bright time of promise, 
and we should indeed mourn sadly thy departure, were 
not thy fair-eyed sister even now in sight in yonder 
meadows, crowned with "cowslips and the nodding 
Trillium." 




&?%e*^§3 



50 



AMONG THE TREES. 



FLOWERS OF APRIL. 



CLASS. 


ORDER. 


GENUS. SPECIES. 


COMMON NAME. 


1. 


1. Ranunculacese. 


Anemone-nemorosa. 


Wind-flower. 


a 


ii 


Hepatica-triloba. 


Liver-leaf. 


tt 


it 


Thalictrum-anemonoides. 


Rue anemone. 


a 


« 


Thalictrum-dioicum. 


Meadow rue. 


it 


ii 


Ranunculus-fascicularis. 


Early crowfoot. 


a . 


" 


Caltha-palustris. 


Marsh marigold. 


a 


ii 


Helleborus-viridus. 


Green hellebore. 


« 


it 


Aquilegia-Canadensis. 


Wild columbine. 


a 


" 


Actaea-rubra. 


Baneberry. 


(C 


5. Berberidaceae. 


Caulopbyllum-thalic- 








troides. 


Blue cohosh. 


« 


10. Papaveraceae. 


Sanguinaria-Can aden sis . 


Bloodroot. 


ft 


11. Fumariaceae. 


Dicentra-cucuUaria. 


White squirrel-corn. 


it 


ii 


Dicentra-Canadensis . 


Purplish squirrel c'n. 


" 


15. Violaceae. 


Viola-blanda. 


White violet. 


tt 


u 


Viola-cucullata. 


Common blue violet. 


a 


ii 


Viola-palmata. 


Hand-leaf violet. 


(( 


" 


Viola-sagittata. 


Arrow-leaf violet. 


a 


" 


Viola-pedata. 


Bird-foot violet. 


a 


28. Geraniaceae. 


Geranium-inaculatum. 


Wild geranium. 


tt 


31. Rubacete. 


Zan thoxy lum- A m er i- 








canum. 


Prickly ash. 


u 


32. Anacardiaceae. 


Rhus-aromatica. 


Fragrant sumach. 


u 


36. Sapindaceae. 


Acer-rubrum. 


Red maple. 


>< 


39. liosaceae. 


Prunus-maritima. 


Beach pea. 


tt 


<■<■ 


Potentilla-Canadensis. 


Cinquefoil. 


u 


" 


Fragaria-Virginiana. 


Wild strawberry. 


(( 


50. Saxifragaceae. 


Saxit'raga-Virginiensis. 


Early saxifrage. 


It 


ii 


Tiarella-cordifolia. 


Mitre -wort. 


it 


ii 


Chrysoplenium-Americana. 


Golden saxifrage. 


l( 


51. Hamamelaceae. 


Liquidanibar-styraciflua. 


Sweet gum. 


(t 


53. Araliaceae. 


Aralia-trifolia. 


Ground-nut. 


ii 


59. Compositae. 


Taraxacuni-dens-leonis. 


Dandelion. 


ii 


87. Aristolochiaceae. 


Asarum-Canadense. 


Wild ginger. 


it 


93. Lauraceae. 


Sassafras-officinale. 


Sassafras. 


ii 


ii 


Benzoin- odoriferum . 


Wild allspice. 


" 


94. Thymelaceaa. 


Dirca-palustris. 


Leatherwood. 


ii 


103. Empetraceae. 


Corema-Conradii. 


Crowberry. 


ii 


108. Myricaceae. 


Myrica-Gale. 


Sweet gale. 


ii 


" 


Comptonia-asplenifolia. 


Sweet fern. 


2. 


112. Araceae. 


' Arisaema-triphyllum. 


Jack-in-the-pulpit. 



AMONG THE TREES. 



51 




Epigea-repens. 



May 5. 



Aunt Emily finds many flowers here which do not 
grow in the old New England woods, where she and 
her sisters studied botany, but she thinks she would be 



52 AMONG THE TREES. 

almost willing to give up these new friends, charming as 
they are, if she could but find the beloved of those early 
years, the flower of flowers in her esteeming, the Epigea- 
repens of the botanist, the far-famed trailing arbutus of 
New England, the May-flower of the Pilgrims, the sweet, 
shy, fragrant woodland darling. Bat alas! it grows not 
here, though we were determined that it should, and 
faithfully did we search for it, literally leaving no stone 
unturned. The rocks and ravines seem secluded and 
wild enough for it to hide in, and many spots seem 
suited to it. 

Aunt Emily had often told us of its peculiar fragrance, 
such as belongs to no cultivated blossom, — a breath of 
forest odor, an inimitable wild sweetness that haunts 
the memory forever and is never mistaken for anything 
else. We fully expected to find it here, but being dis- 
appointed in this, Father said he would do the next best 
thing; so he wrote to a friend of his, in his former New 
England home, requesting him to send him some roots, 
and soon after a son of this gentleman, coming to the 
city, brought with him a box filled with these favorites. 
Most of the blossoms had fallen off on the long journey, 
but a few remained to give those of us who had never 
seen them an idea of their rich and rare perfume, their 
waxen beauty, and soft pink shadings. It w T as my 
mother's favorite flower, Aunt Emily says, and I know 
it will be mine. We hope these plants will thrive with 
us. Father selected sheltered spots beneath trees, some- 
what like those where he used to find them in his boy- 
hood, and the strangers were placed with every care in 
their new home. It was, of course, too late for any 
flowers this year, but we find that some of the plants 
are sending out the fresh shoots which give the next 



AMONG THE TREES. 



53 



year's bloom, and we think these pets ought not to regret 
the transfer from the snow-banks of their native forests 
to the more genial airs which breathe around them here. 
Many of the graceful and fragrant blossoms with whose 
names we have become familiar, and which grow in 




Trientalis- Americana. 

profusion in the woods of Maine, we cannot find at all 
in this softer clime. We look in vain for the exquisite 
little Linncea-borealis or twin-flower, the only species of 
the genus, and named for the immortal Linnseus, and a 
favorite of his, therefore doubly dear to every botanical 



54 AMONG THE TREES. 

heart. This is a delicate little vine, sending up frail 
stalks upon which nod two little rose- colored bells of 
rare beauty, and a fragrance next to that of the peerless 
May-flower. Neither can we find the Trientalis, or star- 
flower, an elegant little plant, the starry white blossom 
crowning a whorl of soft green leaves ; nor the Polygala- 
paucifolia, or gay-wings, as it is fittingly called, for the 
bright blossoms grow amidst dark, shining green leaves, 
and the deep verdure of mosses, and the winged and 
crested rose-red, or purple petals, might easily be mis- 
taken for brilliant little butterflies; nor the Potentilla- 
tridentata, the only one of the many Potentillas with white 
flowers.' All the others are yellow and grow everywhere, 
but this white one is rare; and once a celebrated botanist 
from some distant place visited the New England village 
where Father and Aunt Emily lived, and finding this 
white Potentilla growing abundantly in the college 
grounds, exclaimed, f* Well, I have travelled all the way 
to Canada to find this flower, and here are thousands," 
and this remark clothed the unpretending little plant 
with. a certain distinction in the eyes of the u Professor's 
Class." Our familiarity wn'th these New England flowers 
which we have never seen growing, is owing chiefly to 
correct paintings of many which Aunt Emily has, and 
to pencil drawings which we think almost more beauti- 
ful than the paintings. 

May 15. 

The birds have come from all quarters. We see new 
ones every day, and are almost discouraged about getting 
personally acquainted with them. They will not stand 
still to be picked like the flowers, and are so full of 
business and bustle that they go and come like a flash. 

But we know a good many, and find them delightful 
additions to our rural home. Would you believe it 



AMONG THE TREES. 55 

possible, Rose, that these sweet singers begin their mati- 
nees at about three o'clock in the morning. Only think 
of it! I never realized, when we lived in the city, that 
three o'clock was morning at all. I thought it was the 
deepest and darkest of midnight hours, and I cannot 
believe now that it is anything else there, in those city 
chambers, so carefully darkened, and the dim gas-light 
burning through the night, but here in the country the 
" morning twilight" begins at that time. I say here in 
the country, because here day and night are allowed to 
come and go in the way, and at the times God has 
appointed ; and at the very hour when many of the city 
revelers are preparing to retire for the night, over these 
fair fields the gray light of dawn is stealing, and the 
minstrels of the woods are getting up their grand morn- 
ing concert. I cannot describe to you the solemn sweet- 
ness of that hour of prime, when, waking in the dim 
twilight of the early summer dawn, just as "the case- 
ment slowly grows a glimmering pane," you listen to 
the deep, deep hush, which seems folded around every- 
thing like a garment. Suddenly, from the trees beside 
your window you hear a faint, sleepy-ish twitter, then 
another more wide awake, then a faint gush of song, 
then a louder and longer from near and far, then another 
and another, till the universal chorus wakes, voice an- 
swering voice, and every bird on every bush joins in 
what it seems to you must be and is, a morning song of 
praise and thanksgiving. 

This sweet, mysterious, spontaneous day-dawn song, 
from the shrubs around and from all the dewy leaves in 
the solemn recesses of the dim old woods, must be heard 
to be appreciated or believed in. And then to rise when 
the sky is just flushing with rose and purple tints, to 



56 AMONG THE TREES 

open the eastern windows and take in the scented morn- 
ing air, and before the sun appears, to look over these 
slumbering valleys to the watching hills beyond. The 
thick, white mist fills the mountain meadows, shrouding 
all the lowlands, while here and there rise out of it the 
tree tops, like islands in a quiet lake, and the distant 
hills peep darkly over all. Then as the dawn grows and 
the sun is coming, to see this misty lake disturbed and 
surging, and hosts of shadowy troops hurrying like a 
routed army, escaping from point to point in disordered 
ranks, often striving to pitch a white tent in the clefts 
of the hills, but discovered and scattered, while the con- 
quering hero comes forth from gold and crimson curtains, 
and the valleys are flooded with light, and every dew- 
drop becomes a sparkling gem. This morning glory 
must indeed be seen to be believed in. Not that 1 mean 
to give you the impression that we rise always at day- 
dawn, or see every sunrise. O no, for we believe in a 
good amount of sleep, though we are learning to take 
more of it at the other end. We have no idea, however, 
of being country dwellers without hearing for ourselves 
that "melody of morn" which makes the woods re- 
joice, or without seeing for ourselves the wondrous 
beauty which earth and sky put on to welcome the Lord 
of Light, or without knowing, by our own sweet experi- 
ence, what a summer sunrise is. 

May 27. 

May is bringing her vernal offerings in profusion, and 
the trees, now all arrayed in summer verdure, almost 
eclipse the flowers. Some of these are flowering trees, 
and several are new even to Father and Aunt Emily, and 
all are new to us younger members of the family, who 
know but little beyond a tree's being a tree. But we 



AMONG THE TREES. 57 

are learning, and already have discovered what a charm 
it gives to a mountain ramble to be acquainted with the 
plants which meet you on every side. It gives a perfect 
interest to a woodland stroll, and lures you on and on 
untiringly to search for another and another floral fa- 
vorite. A botanical friend of Father's spent a few days 
with us recently, and it was delightful to go out with 
him. He seemed to know everything from the " cedar to 
the hyssop," and would greet any simple little wild flower 
as if it were a dear friend ; and he found multitudes of 
friends, and brought home such loads of trash or treas- 
ures (as the taste may be), that Aunt Emily said she felt 
as if carried back to the old days at home, when she and 
her comrades did the same thing. We shall have no 
excuse if we do not become familiar with all that these 
hills and vales offer us, since, in addition to the aid which 
we can get from Father and Aunt Emily, so many of 
our visitors are skillful interpreters of the mysteries of 
nature. Since we came here we have taken great de- 
light in watching the variety and beauty of the sky and 
clouds, and it seems surprising indeed that there are so 
many, even of the intelligent and cultivated, who hardly 
know there is a sky. But here one can hardly help 
knowing it, there is so much, as a little girl who was 
here from the city said. She was sitting on the piazza, 
looking upward at the broad expanse which was without 
a cloud, but tinged with the golden glow of sunset, and 
with an unconscious reverence of tone and manner, she 
said, " Mary, there is a great deal of sky here, — more 
than I ever saw in New York." And the stars also seem 
to me, as well as to little Lilly, to outshine all city stars. 
Stars, I suppose, do look down upon the crowded city 
as well as upon the sweet country ; for I have seen the 



58 AMONG THE TREES. 

grace of starlight and moonlight touching the fronts of 
city palaces, but somehow the gas-lighted streets, and the 
gas-illumined windows, and the glitter and the glare of 
the lights of this world, seem to say to the " quiet lamps 
of heaven," we need you not, and if you will persist in 
shining, we shall take no notice of you. Blinded indeed 
are they, and willfully blinded as well, who will not take 
the pains to realize that "there is one glory of the sun, 
and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the 
stars." This little girl who has been staying with us, 
ought not to be condemned to a city life. She was 
made for a wild-wood blossom, and would sparkle with 
the light and grace of the heart's happiness, if she could 
wander like a breeze upon the breezy hills. Her mother 
says she is fretful and troublesome at home, always 
asking " What shall I do ? " that question which no child, 
with the exhaustless resources of young existence, ought 
ever to ask, and which few or none do ask who have 
hills and valleys, flowers and streams for playthings. 
Her great desire is to be out of-doors, and of course she 
cannot be permitted to roam New York city by herself, 
and the set walks with a nursery-maid are distasteful to 
her; but Aunt Emily says that this little Lilly would be 
no trouble to any one if she could be allowed to amuse 
herself with those simple country pleasures which satisfy 
the heart of childhood. It is the city child, with a room 
full of costly toys, and a maid to submit to childish 
caprice and imperiousness, who is dissatisfied and queru- 
lous, and who insists upon intruding its childish exactions 
upon those who would gladly escape them. But all the 
weeks Lilly was with us, she was satisfied and happy, 
without its being necessary to make one effort to enter- 
tain her. She entertained herself perfectly all day long, 



AMONG THE TREES. 59 

strolling through the fields and climbing the hills, gather- 
ing every flower she could find, often bringing home her 
apron full of buttercups, which were great favorites, 
stringing these into wreaths for the hair, and the golden 
circlet gleamed with singular grace in her wild, dark 
locks. She said she never liked the shape of the bouquets 
which her mother bought in the city, and she would 
arrange flowers for an admired little vase with a free 
and fair harmoniousness that one would not expect from 
such a child. Clover-leaves she admired, and it was 
really surprising how many different patterns she found 
on them, as she called the various stripes and shadings, 
and a four-leaved clover seemed really to whisper some 
childish charm to her young ear. She had an eye of 
admiration for every bird and butterfly; indeed all ani- 
mate and inanimate nature was charming to her, the 
visits of the peacock were delightful, and a bird's-nest a 
perfect mystery of delight; and with a zeal equal to 
Helen's, every stray kitten, however hideous, was enticed 
into the back settlements and bribed with bread and 
milk to forego its wildness and remain to be petted and 
admired; and she and Helen so devoted themselves to 
cultivating the moral sense of White-toes, that his 
onsets on his natural enemy were relinquished, at least 
while they were mounting guard over him, and he would 
stand by with an expression of lofty contempt, and see 
one of those scarecrows regaled with a nice breakfast, 
and called a " sweet little kitty." Nor was this little 
girl averse to any of the quiet feminine pursuits, for, 
after her long strolls, she would, with perfect interest, sit 
down upon the steps to read, or sew, or paint pictures in 
little books, or string beads, or play with paper dolls. 
What a shame it is (if it is not w T icked) that a child 



00 AMONG THE TREES. 

with such ability to prepare from the most simple and 
innocent materials her own exhaustless and healthful 
feast of happiness, should be condemned to brick walls, 
and paved streets, and to a fretful and unsatisfied child- 
hood. And this little girl is but one of thousands and 
thousands, who are in reality torments at home because 
simple pleasures are denied them. Aunt Emily says she 
would write a book about these " Sorrows of Child- 
hood," if the subject did not make her feel so melan- 
choly. Helen advises her to write one about the "Joys 
of Childhood," in such a way as to put the sorrows out 
of countenance. 

May 31. 
How the time does fly ! The last day of May is here, 
and O dear, how the beautiful time of year is running 
away. April was just such a month as April should be, 
soft, misty, showery, shiny ; and the " delicate-footed 
May" has followed with her own distinctive charms. 
More sunshine, deeper verdure, new flowers, new birds, 
one or two thunder-storms, and one most gorgeous 
rainbow. Only one chilly rain, and that passed away, 
leaving a summer softness on the air. Every day, I 
believe, we have been out, and seldom returned without 
bringing some new flower to admire and examine. We 
know this cannot last always, and we fear that the 
flowers of summer will not be as enchanting to us as 
these early spring ones have been. I think, however, 
that we shall probably feel an interest in them, if their 
showy splendors do not charm us as much as the deli- 
cate graces of the first coming blossoms. Such a pro- 
fusion of flowers as there are now, and so many of the 
same kind. In some localities, the yellow violets take the 
lead, throwing a positive glow over the chosen spots. 



AMONG THE TREES. 61 

Upon a bank a little below the Green Lake, where old 
trees are growing with their gnarled roots in and out of 
the dark, rich soil, these bright blossoms are peeping out 
from all the rural crevices, making the old trees look gay ; 
and all along the banks of the streams, above them and 
below them, and dipping their soft leaves into the hurry- 
ing waters, stand groups and groups of blossoms of all 
tender hues and graceful shapes. Some of these flowers 
look so ethereal that you would not suppose they could 
bear an adverse breeze, but they can bear a good many. 
These frail-looking Anemones, delicate as a snow-flake, 
are not afraid of anything, neither are any of the floral 
sisterhood. One hates to leave these tender treasures all 
night in the dreary wood, amongst the cold rocks where 
the serpents may glide and the toads intrude, where the 
thunder may crash above them, and wild winds shake 
their delicate petals. But they, in their innocent bold- 
ness, fear none of these things; though I think of these 
pets in some stormy midnight with a certain pang of 
sorrowful commiseration, and a fear that they will all be 
destroyed, yet when the radiant morning comes there 
they are smiling out unharmed, no matter what storms 
may have swept through the darkness. They certainly 
bear charmed lives, and blossom where they please, and 
endure a degree of hardness which one would think 
enough to annihilate such fragile-looking creations. We 
saw, the other day, a most charming combination of 
forms and colors as we stood looking down a rocky 
slope, across a meadow and a stream to woods beyond. 
All down upon the outer edges of the rock, flaunted the 
gay wild columbines, peeping over with a look of curios- 
ity into the deeper fissures of the cliff, along which grew 
myriads of the delicate Dicentra, or squirrel-corn, fring- 



62 AMONG THE TREES. 

ing with its fair blossoms and exquisitely cut leaves 
every crack and crevice, gathered into every seam and 
ruffling softly over the brink ; while purple Hepaticas, and 
v/hite Anemones, and the prettily growing bloodroot, 
glanced into sight in every imaginable place, and in the 
damp meadow below grew quantities of bright yellow 
cowslips and blue violets ; and across the brook, in the 
thick wood beyond, the gay Cornus-florida, or flowering 
dogwood, was abroad with its snowy battalions, flashing 
through the dark foliage, and charming the eye with its 
level sheets of bloom. And these beautiful arrange- 
ments of colors we often find, where the very tints 
whose contrasts bring such a harmonious picture are 
grouped by nature's hand with unerring skill. 

On the tops of many of these hills we find it very 
moist, and here in luxuriance grow the sweet white 
violets, and the spring-beauty, and the graceful adder's- 
tongue, and underlying these tinted clusterings of white, 
and pink, and buff, are mosses of varied shadings and 
•wondrous fineness. I saw a host of adder's-tongue 
growing in a thick bed of trailing evergreen, and min- 
gled with it the pretty Mitchella vines, or partridge-berry, 
with its round green leaves striped with white and the 
bright scarlet berries. Lower down, growing in abun- 
dance, we find the Convallarias, or Solomon's seal, of 
several varieties, and the Uvularias, the fair bellworts, or 
straw-lilies, as they are called, of the softest straw-color, 
and such a graceful hang of the " drooping flower- 
crowned head." These two species of straw- lilies grow- 
ing so close beside one another, looking so much alike 
to the careless glance, and yet always to be distinguished 
the one from the other, — the perfoliata having the leaves 
perforated by the stem, and the sessilifolia with the 



AMONG THE TREES. 63 

leaves growing free from the stem. Just so true are 
they always, and so are many others of the flowering 
tribes. It is wonderful to mark their faithfulness. For 
instance, such myriads of violets as there are, and violets 
are violets, one would think, and what can be the differ : 
ence ? You shall see if you will look. This one ( Viola- 
palustris) is pale lilac with dark purple streaks ; and of 
this ( Viola-villosa) the petals are reddish blue and the 
leaves round ; of another ( Viola-palm at a) the leaves are 
hand-shaped ; another ( Viola- sagittata) has purplish 
petals and arrow-shaped leaves ; another ( Viola-rostrata) 
is pale violet with a long spur ; of another ( Viola-pe- 
data) two of the petals are lilac colored and velvety, the 
others blue, and the leaves divided like the claws of a 
bird's foot. And so with all the flowers where there are 
many members of the same family ; there is some slight 
difference which gives them individuality. The botan- 
ical eye seizes upon these slight distinctions which escape 
the careless glance, and the botanical heart undoubt- 
ingly trusts to them, and " Nature never does betray the 
heart that loves her." 

To be sure, when one thinks of the varieties of Poten- 
tilla perhaps, or of Polygala, and of that terrible " Com- 
posite Family," — those ranks on ranks of asters and 
golden-rod, all alike, as one may say, — it seems impos- 
sible to tell which is which ; yet the patient searcher is at 
length rewarded by discovering the minute bract, the 
angled stem, the clasping leaf, the covered nectary, or 
the twisted stamen, some slight but unerring peculiarity 
which distinguishes this from all others, and he can for- 
ever after call by name his friend Tetragonotheca-helian- 
thoides, or whatever its name may be. And here I 
suppose may be the reason why strict botanists regard 



64 



AMONG THE TREES. 



cultivated flowers with disapprobation of a certain kind. 
This cultivation interferes with the primitive type and 
makes dreadful confusion with leaves, stamens, pistils, 
and petals, and this is why cultivated flowers are so 
difficult to examine. We have found more than thirty 
flowers this month, a list of which I shall send you. 
We found the barberry in blossom the other day, a 
handsome shrub ; the drooping sprays of pale yellow 
flowers hang gracefully from perfect rosettes of green 
leaves, and the stamens, lying spread out within the 
coralla, have a remarkable sensitiveness, springing vio- 
lently to the centre of the flower if touched ever so 
lightly, — a pretty little experiment. And so farewell to 
the beautiful May, so rich in freshness and bloom. 




AMONG THE TREES. 
} LOWERS OF MAY. 



65 



CLASS. 


ORDER. 


G :nu.s species. 


COMMON NAME. 


1. 


1. Ranunculaceae. 


Atragene-Americana. 


Purple clematis. 




i. 


Anemone- cylindrica. 


Plumed anemone. 




(c 


Ranunculus-bulbosus. 


Buttercups. 




it 


Trollius-laxus. 


Globe flower. 




u 


Coptis-trifolia. 


Goldthread. 




2. Magnoliaceae. 


Liriodendron-tulipa. 


Tulip-tree. 




5. Bei-beridacese. 


Berberis-vnlgaris. 


Barberry. 




u 


Podyphyllum-peltatum. 


May-apple. 




8. Nymphseaceae. 


Nuphar-advena. 


Yellow pond-lily 




12. Cruciferae. 


Dentaria-diphylla. 


Pepper root. 




15. Violaceae. 


Viola-rotundifolia. 


Small yellow violet. 




" 


Viola-pubescens. 


Large yellow violet. 




ic 


Viola-lanceolata. 


Lance- leaf violet. 




« 


Yiola-primubei'olia. 


Primrose-leaf violet. 




u 


Viola-Selkirkii. 


Long-spurred violet. 




u 


Viola-striata. 


Pale violet. 




16. Cistaceae. 


Hudsonia-ericoides . 


Hudsonia. 




21. Caryophyllaceae. 


Stellaria-media. 


Chickweed. 




u 


Cerastium-vulgatum. 


Mouse-ear chickw'd.. 




« 


Cerastium-arvense. 


Field chickweed. 




22. Portulacaceae. 


Claytonia-Virginica. 


Spring-beauty. 




27. Oxalidaceae. 


Oxalis-violacea. 


Violet wood-sorrel. 




" 


Oxalis-stricta. 


Yellow wood sorrel. 




37. Polygalaceae. 


Polygala-Senega. 


Seneca snake-root. 




" 


Polygala-paucifolia. 


Fringed polygala. 




39. Rosaceae. 


Geum-album. 


White avens. 




U 


Geurn-rivale. 


Purple avens. 




(1 


Crataegus-coccinea. 


Scarlet fruited thorn 




" 


Crataegus-tomentosa. 


Black thorn. 




(1 


Pyrus-arbutifolia. 


Chokeberry. 




< ; 


Amelanchier-Canadensis. 


Shad-blossom. 




50. Saxifragaceae. 


Saxifraga-Pennsylvanica. 


Swamp saxifrage. 




u 


Mitella-dipbylla. 


Bishop's cap. 




« 


Mitella-nuda. 


Mitre-wort. 




52. Umbelliferse. 


Zizia-integerrima. 


Yellow zizia. 




41 


Osmorrhiza-longistylus. 


Sweet cicely. 




54. Cornaceae. 


Cornus-florida. 


Flowering dogwood. 




« 


Cornu s-altern i folia. 


Blue-fruited cornel. 




" 


Nyssa-multiflora. 


Sour-gum tree. 




55. Caprifoliaceae. 


Lonicera-parvi flora. 


Small honeysuckle. 




u 


Lonicera-ciliata. 


Fly honeysuckle. 




a 


Lon icera-caer u lea. 


Mountain honeysuckl 




(( 


Sambucus-pubens. 


Red-berried elder. 




(t 


Viburnum-nudum. 


Withe-rod. 



66 AMONG THE TREES. 

FLOWERS OF MAY — Continued. 



CLASS. 


ORDER. 


GENUS. SPECIES. 


common name. 


1. 


55. Caprifoliacese. 


Viburnum-lentago. 


Sweet viburnum. 


H 


a 


Viburnurn-acerifolium. 


Dock mackie. 


" 


a 


Viburnu m-lan tanoides. 


Wayfaring tree. 


u 


56. Eubiaceae. 


Oldenlandia-caerulea. 


Innocence. 


K 


61. Campanulaceae. 


Specularia-perfoliata. 


Venus's looking-glass 


it 


62. Ericaceae. 


Gaylussacia-frondosa. 


Dangleberry. 


ft- 


a 


Vaccinium-stamineuni. 


Deerberry. 


« 


u 


Chiogenes-hispidula. 


Ivory plum. 


(( 


a 


Epigea-repens. 


May-flower. 


u 


" 


Leucothe-racemosa. 


Andromeda. 


a 


ft 


Andromeda-polifolia. 


Sacred andromeda. 


" 


ft 


Andromeda-Mariana. 


Stagger bush. 


" 


" 


Azalea-nudiflora. 


Purple azalea. 


ti 


" 


Rhodora-Canadensis. 


Pink rhodora. 


('( 


64. Aquifoliacese. 


Ilex-verticillata. 


Black alder. 


" 


» 


Nemopanthes-Canadensis. 


Mountain holly. 


" 


70. Prirnulaceae. 


Trientalis-Americanum. 


Star-flower. 


" 


« 


Samolus-valerandi. 


Brookweed. 


it 


78. Borraginaceae. 


Myosotis-palustris. 


True forget-me-not 


« 


a 


Myosotis laxa. 


Pale forget-me-not. 


(( 


ft 


Myosotis-arvensis. 




t( 


a 


Myosotis-verna. 




» 


96. Santalaceae. 


Comandra-umbellata. 


Comandra. 


ft 


104. Urticaceae. 


Morus-rubra. 


Red mulberry. 


2. 


119. Orchidaceae. 


Orchis^spectabile. 


Spring orchis. 


u 


tt 


Arethusa-bulbosa. 


Purple arethusa. 


u 


tt 


Corallorhiza-odontorhiza. 


Coral- root. 


tt 


it 


Aplectrum-hyemale. 


Putty-root. 


« 


125. Smilaceae. 


Trilliuni-cernuurn. 


Nodding trillium. 


a 


« 


Trillium-erectum. 


Purple triliium. 


a 


126. Liliaceae. 


Polygonatum-bifloruni. 


Small Solomon's seal 


a 


« 


S m ilacina -stellata. 


False Solomon's seal 


u 


ct 


Smilacina-trifolia. 


Three-leaved S. seal. 


« 


" 


Smilacina-bifolia. 


Two-leaved S. seal. 


a 


tt 


Erythronium-Americanum. 


Adder's-tongue. 


(( 


127. Melanthaceae. 


Uvularia-perfoliata. 


Bellworts, or 


it 




Uvularia-sessilifolia. 


Straw-lilies. 


u 




Streptopus-roseus. 


Rosy twisted stalk. 



AMONG THE TREES. 67 

June 1. 

This is the first of June, and never summer sun rose 
in more regal state. The clouds were amber, and purple, 
and gold ; the mists on the hills were tinted with softest 
touches, the land was bathed in balm and fragrance, and 
all nature combined to welcome, with sweetest offerings, 
this queen of months. To-day we are expecting friends 
from the city, and the flower- vases are waiting for the 
finishing touches. I think I have rather slighted our 
garden flowers in my letters to you, partly because you 
are better acquainted with them than with wild ones, 
but chiefly because wild flowers have a particular and 
peculiar charm to those who study them botanically. It 
is almost impossible to examine botanically many of 
the garden flowers, so changed are they by cultivation ; 
but the flowers of the forest are true to the primitive 
type. Only think of roses for instance, the beautiful 
roses, the " hundred leaved ; " ninety-five of these are 
monstrosities, or stamens and pistils cultivated into 
petals; the single wild rose, with its five unpretending 
petals, is the true rose. So of the poppies, the fringed 
and doubled beyond counting, they are all made out of 
the simple, five-leaved poppy. But for looking at, these 
garden gems are satisfying, and in fragrance they rivaL 
their forest sisters. 

Our garden flowers have given us exceeding pleasure, 
and we have tried various experiments in training and 
arranging them, and have been often rewarded by great 
results. Aunt Emily has trained a beautiful cherry- 
colored verbena into a kind of bush, by drawing the 
branches up instead of allowing them to trail, and sup- 
porting them by a stick in the centre. In this way the 
gay blossoms are made to cover the spreading top, and 



b8 AMONG THE TREES. 

present an appearance so unusual, that persons riding 
by sometimes stop to inquire what new plant we have. 

And our charming vines which hang so gracefully 
from suspended baskets between the pillars of the piazza, 
the delicate Coliseum ivy and bright blue Lobelia, and 
larger vines clambering to the chamber windows, and all 
the train of twining plants, Maurandias, cypress vines, 
morning-glorys, sweet-peas, and Nasturtiums, these are 
all dear and delightful. 

Then our tea-roses, and geraniums, and pinks, and 
pansies, these can never be imagined by a city dweller, 
for one must have the room which the country gives to 
develop these charmers in all their charmingness. A 
friend in Cuba sent Aunt Emily a collection of tropical 
flower seeds. These have been planted in a small oval 
beneath a tree, and are subjects of intense interest. 
Several have come up, and some lily -like leaves are two 
or three inches high ; the seeds of the beautiful Spanish 
banner are growing well, and several others that we do 
not know. But it was rather late in the season when 
they came, and we fear they will not come to flowering 
during the summer. Then we fear that they will not 
survive being taken up, and we are anxious if the weather 
is chilly, or blowy, or anything but tropical, so that on 
the whole we do not know whether they give us most 
happiness or unhappiness. All we can do is to watch 
them tenderly and hope for the best. But Isabella calls 
me to go into the garden this beautiful first of June. 

June 10. 

We are learning to distinguish the different bird- 
songs, and a friend who has been visiting us, has assisted 
us much by telling us what he has observed himself, and 



AMONG THE TREES. 69 

what he has gathered* from the observations of others. 
He says he has paid much attention to bird-music, and 
has collected a book full of bird songs. He says that 
we have double privileges in our place of abode. We 
are sufficiently civilized to be visited by the songsters 
which frequent the cultivated localities, birds of the 
gardens and orchards, such as the bluebird, robin, gold- 
finch, crimson finch, green linnet, song-sparrow, bobolink, 
golden oriole, and others. All these have a taste for 
human society, and build and sing in the vicinity of 
dwellings, in the plum-trees and the homelike, sociable 
apple-trees, and the tall pear-trees and cherry-trees, or in 
the grassy meadows, and the edges of woods around 
cultivated fields. But we are also sufficiently unculti- 
vated to have the benefit of the sweet, serious songs 
of those birds which delight in the far away woods and 
dim forests, such as the w T ood sparrow, the golden- 
crowned thrush, the green warbler, red-start, yellow- 
throat, wood-thrush, veery, red mavis, and many others. 
All these join in that rich morning concert which swells 
around us, and he says that they have an evening con- 
cert also, only there are so many other sounds then, and 
the clatter of the world so much around us, that we do 
not notice it. I mean to listen for it. I think we can 
hear it if any one can, for we do not meddle much with 
the jar and jostle of life, and are ready at any hour to 
listen to any voice calling us from the dim old woods. 
One little bird, called the vesper-bird, sings an evening 
song at a time when most other birds are silent. Our 
visitor says also, that the solemn strains always begin 
the morning concert, and this is true ; for in listening to 
them I have always noticed a wild, mysterious solemnity 
in the beginning, and by degrees lighter and gayer min- 



70 AMONG THE TREES 

strels join in, till finally the bobolink, that type of all 
merriment and nonsense, presumes to strike in with his 
merry gushes. He told us also of a little green warbler 
or greenlet, whose song has a plaintive, entreating sound, 
as imploring some patron saint, and the words which it 
seems to use, and which he says almost startle you by 
their distinctness when heard in the hushed woods, are, — 

"Hear me, Saint Theresa! 
Hear me, Saint Theresa!" 

This may seem a stretch of imagination, but he says 
that a careful observer of the notes of birds, who has 
written very interestingly on the subject, has set these 
words to music, and describes the sound as " the plain- 
tive note of the green warbler, who seems in supplica- 
tory tones, very slowly uttered, to say, ' Hear me, Saint 
Theresa,' repeating the strain for ten minutes or longer, 
and it is one of those melodies which seem to belong 
exclusively to solitude. There is a plaintive expression 
in this musical petition that is apparent to all who hear 
it." Helen and I have listened with all our ears for 
hours in the still woods, but alas, we have not yet heard 
it, with all our ability to make things sound as we wish. 

Only think how enchanting it would be if we could 
entice one to build in the cool, overshadowing beech- 
tree, above our grotto ; then how singularly appropriate 
would swell that tender, pensive song, " Hear me, Saint 
Theresa," and what a thousand pities it seems that 
when there really is such a suitable bird, it should not be 
persuaded to fill that niche. Another interesting bird is 
the red mavis, that delights to sit on some tree in the 
edge of the wood while the fanner is planting his corn, 
and keep up, as it seems, a watch of his movements and 
an incessant sparkle of sweet song, always delightful, 



AMONG THE TREES. 71 

and which sounds like this, " Drop it, drop it ; cover it 
up, pull it up ; see there, see there ; work away ; drop it, 
drop it ; cover it up." The golden oriole is very abundant 
here, delighting to visit the apple-trees when in blossom ; 
the pensile nest of one hangs swaying on the branch of 
a tall elm near my window, and these beautiful birds 
may be seen flashing through the foliage at almost any 
time. We saw, the other day, two splendid scarlet birds 
on the trees in front of the house, but they soon took 
flight for the woods ; and that same afternoon, as we 
walked on the hills, we saw, flitting through the trees, 
the very same birds as we supposed, and a gay scarlet 
feather came floating down at our feet, which we have 
kept to remember these brilliant visitors by. On our 
way home we inquired of a farmer whom we met, what 
birds these were : he said he did not see them, but 
guessed they were w T hat his boys called fire-hang-birds. 
But they were not, for that name is what boys call the 
orioles, from their bright colors and hanging nests. We 
have since learned that they were scarlet tanagers, bril- 
liant birds which are sometimes seen here for a little 
while in the summer. Every evening, at about eight 
o'clock, a whip-poor-will begins his peculiar song in 
some quince bushes not far from the house. Strange, 
liquid, pensive sound, so clear, so wonderful in distinct- 
ness. This seems to be our only night-singing bird, 
unless one compliments the screech-owl by calling his 
screech a scream. " Dismal, boding owl," to be waked 
in the darkness of midnight by his appalling cry, is 
enough to frighten any one, and I felt glad that my ears 
were prepared beforehand, so that I knew what it was, 
otherwise I should surely have thought it a cry of human 
distress. It is a dreadful sound, and a lady was telling 



72 AMONG THE TREES. 

us that she had heard it a few nights before, and in terror 
thought some child was lost in the ravine near their 
house. We inquired how it sounded, and immediately 
the lady's husband imitated the forlorn yell, for that is 
just what it is. Soon after I heard it in the "dead 
waste and middle of the night," and though it sounded 
sufficiently terrific, I rather enjoyed the unearthly hoot, 
trying to consider it another of those rural sounds which 
go to make up the entire harmony of nature. The 
cuckoo, too, calls out in the dim woods in the sultry 
summer forenoon, — a sound that captivates me always. 
I do not know what the association is that makes it so 
interesting, perhaps the pretty lines learned in early 
childhood, — 

" Sweet bird, thy bower is ever green, 
Thy sky is ever clear ; 
Thou hast no sorrow in thy song, 
No winter in thy year.''' 

The cuckoo is very shy and seldom seen, and seems to 
shun human society. A farmer, an old gentleman of 
eighty, at a farm-house where we boarded one summer, 
told us one lovely morning that it was going to rain. 
" Going to rain, grandpa ! " said one of the party : " what 
makes you think so ? there is not a cloud to be seen." 
"Ah," said he, " don't you hear the cuckoos calling for 
rain? they never make a mistake." We then inquired 
about the cuckoo, how it looked. " I never saw one," 
said he ; "I have lived here, boy and man, over eighty 
year, and I never caught sight of one ; they are dreadful 
scared critters." Helen thinks she shall not live " eighty 
year" and never see a cuckoo. 

Aunt Emily says that once when she was visiting a 
school-mate residing on Temple Street, Boston, some 



AMONG THE TREES. 73 

cuckoos had a home in a tree at the corner of the street, 
and strangely enough those sounds, always associated 
with the most solitary woodland recesses, broke over the 
hum of the busy city. She and her friend used to sit 
at the window and listen to the mysterious call, which 
would cease when anything like bustle was near, break- 
ing out when silence was restored. They must have 
had their trials in such a locality, and there was no 
accounting for their being there, unless they had escaped 
from a cage and had not found the way to the woods. 

It pains me, Rose, to speak truth fully of the bewitching 
bobolink, with his merry song, so full, so sweet, so un- 
tiring. Such a stirring and respectable character as he 
is, too, in the northern and temperate regions where he 
begins life with somewhat limited means, requiring 
healthful exercise and effort on his part to take suitable 
care of his family. But he works for them early and 
late, and his dress is the " spick and span " of nicety, his 
black coat and white vest are above reproach, and his 
gay spirits overflow continually in a song brilliant, cheery, 
and unceasing. After awhile he takes wing for a softer 
climate where less effort is necessary. Now begins the 
downward course ; he neglects his toilet, and grows rusty 
and dingy looking, stout and voracious; his clear, varied, 
and enchanting warble dies away, he becomes an epicure, 
and as the reed -bird of the Middle States, he finds no 
mercy at the sportsman's hand. Those who escape the 
u snare of the fowler" and travel still further south, 
reach those climes of luxuriant vegetation where the 
boundless feast forever spread tempts to continual indul- 
gence. The epicure soon degenerates into the disgusting 
gourmand, the rice-bird of the Southern States, and 
finally winds up his career as the butter-bird of the West 



74 AMONG THE TREES. 

Indies ; every accomplishment forgotten, — song, beauty, 
sentiment all gone, and become so dull and unwieldy by 
constant eating as to be easily knocked down by hand. 
O be warned by this melancholy history, free, airy, 
exultant, beautiful bobolink ; yield not to the tempta- 
tions of an idle, self-indulgent life ; strive not to escape 
from that degree of wholesome effort, wherein lies thy 

only safety. 

June 20. 

The tulip-trees are now in bloom. Beautiful and 
ornamental are they in everyway; the peculiar shape 
and fine glossy green of the leaves, and the soft, creamy, 
distinguished looking blossoms, make them objects of 
interest and admiration. 

There are more flowers to be found this month than 
in any other in the year, and this is the sweetest of 
months. We have not been able to go out at all hours 
every day; many have been quite too warm, but we 
have averaged about three new flowers daily, and we 
hate to think that the supply must soon be exhausted. 
There comes a time (we are told by those who know), 
in the later part of summer, when there are very few 
flowers to be found, everything is getting ready to go 
to seed, and what late flowers there are, with a few bril- 
liant exceptions, are by no means as enchanting as the 
early comers. 

We shall be away late in the season, but hope to be 
somewhere where we can look upon the cardinal flower, 
the fringed gentian and the summer flowering Orchis 
tribe. Among the flowers that we have particularly fan- 
cied this month, are the beautiful and fragrant Pyrolas, 
of which there are several varieties. These grow in damp 
and shady woods, and among them the Pyrola-rotundi- 



AMONG THE TREES. 



75 



folia is the handsomest, and is very sweet scented. The 
elegant Azaleas are charming alike for beauty and per- 




Azalea-nudi flora. 



fume, and the woods now seem jghted with their 
crowded bloom. These, with the Trillium, the wild 



76 AMONG THE TREES. 

lupine, with forget-me-nots, evening primrose, Bethlehem 
stars, blue flag, wild ginger, arrow-head, yellow lilies, 
blue-eyed grass, ladies'-slipper, laurels, and the splendid 
white water-lilies, can be arranged in bouquets equaling, 
in grace and fragrance, the garden pets. The pretty 
wild touch-me-not is a curious little tawny yellow spot- 
ted flower. The blossoms are shaped like fairy little 
pitchers hanging on slender stems, and the seed-vessels, 
when ripe, burst with an elastic spring and a little explo- 
sive sound, delightful to all youthful wood-wanderers. 
The wild morning-glory grows luxuriantly over old 
fences, and everything it can find to cling to. A beau- 
tifully graceful one has crept up the posts of an old 
gateway between two fields, twining into all the cracks 
and crevices, and the fair white and pink blossoms look 
lovely, peeping out from two knot-holes through which 
they have made their way. These flowers shut up at 
midday, and are in perfection in the early glow of the 
summer morning; the buds, however, are perfect at 
all hours. The blue-bell hangs over the points of the 
rocks, and seems to grow where there is not an atom 
of earth worth mentioning. This flower is called the 
Campanula-rolundifolia, but the green leaves which we 
see are slender lines, and it is only when you look very 
sharp at the very groundwork of the plant that you dis- 
cover some small round root-leaves, so that it seems 
absurd to name the plant from this almost invisible 
appendage. The flower is grace itself, and we supposed 
it was of course the harebell of the poets, that which 

" raised its head, 
Elastic from the airy tread " 

of our friend Ellen Douglas ; but a writer on plants says 
that Ellen Douglas's harebell, which abounds in the 



AMONG THE TREES. 



77 



woods and glens of Scotland, belongs to the genus 
Seilla, and grows from a bulb, which is very unlike ours. 
I have, I think, told you of no plants which have not 
beauty, grace, fragrance, or some sweet attribute to make 
them dear to the heart, but there are some which are des- 




Monotropa-uniflora. 

titute of all these, and are noxious and injurious only, and 
in this forbidding class the Rhus-radicans, or poison ivy, 
must take its place. This plant, I am sorry to say, is 
very fond of this part of the country. One very large 
one which has climbed to the very top of a tall, dead 



78 AMONG THE TREES. 

tree in a damp, dark hollow in the woods, looks really 
wicked, even when one does not know what it is. The 
vine sends out lateral roots which generally bury them- 
selves in the bark of the tree to which they cling, but in 
this instance these roots have become detached for the 
whole height of the tree, excepting at the very top, and 
the huge vine, about the size of your arm and thickly 
bristling with these black, hairy roots, sways with a 
sharp creak from side to side, and is really fearful in its 
aspect. The place where it grows is the most desolate 
and forlorn of any spot we have seen in our walks, — a 
black, muddy hollow, from whence all fresh and health- 
ful verdure has fled, leaving the premises to what you 
can hardly believe is not an immense hissing serpent 
with thousands of legs. This ivy and also the hand- 
some, shiny sumach, a friendly farmer advised us not to 
touch, as they were "dreadful pisen to some," he said. 
Nothing pisens us, however, we are glad to find, but we 
feel no inclination to touch this snaky-looking thing, as 
snakes are our peculiar horror; and here I may as well 
say that our dread of these reptiles, great at first, is 
passing away, as we have seen only one, and a gentle- 
man who has lived near here for ten years says he has 
never seen one, though he ranges the woods extensively. 
I must not forget to mention the Monotropa-uniflora, or 
Indian pipe, or ghost-flower, as some call it. This is a 
singular plant of tawny, waxen white, with not a tinge 
of green from head to foot. The flower is bell-shaped, 
and the leaves and stems and all are partially trans- 
parent and of this disagreeable whiteness. It is so 
strange to find a plant with no touch of verdure about 
it, that one is tempted to pick it for the curiosity of the 
thing, though unearthly-looking, like a small ghost, 



AMONG THE TREES. 79 

haunting the solitudes. We have found some of these 
of a pinkish hue, but this does not improve them. These 
are parasitic plants, or growing upon the stems or roots 
of other plants, and of this family I shall tell you more 
by and by. Though they are curiosities they are not 
favorites; there is something unnatural in their manner 
of growth, and they have not the sweet touch of the 
woods about them. 

This little ghost-plant grows abundantly in a shady, 
damp grove which we often pass; the trees there are so 
thick that it is always dark, and the ground is covered 
with decaying leaves, and here you may see a whole 
colony of these shadowy looking phantoms. They are 
not shadows, however, nor phantoms when you touch 
them, but cold, fleshy, clammy, disagreeable things. 
They would seem to be out of place amidst the beau- 
tiful fresh verdure of June, if anything which nature pro- 
duces can seem out of place to the pilgrims who seek 

her shrine. 

Junk 24. 

Our grotto is not forgotten amidst the wealth of buds 
and blossoms. Rough rocks form the front, and from 
the wild vines on the hills we have selected those de- 
sirable for beauty of foliage, or flower, or fruit, or bril- 
liant autumnal tint, such as the graceful woodbine 
(Ampelopsis-quinquefolia), the wax-work (Celastrus- 
scandens), which is a fine vine, and the scarlet berries 
remain all winter. It belongs to the same family as the 
burning bush, and resembles it somewhat. One pretty 
vine with soft, bluish-green, grape-like leaves, is the 
moonseed (Menispermum- Canadense), the fruit of which 
in the autumn looks like little frost-grapes, and the 
seeds are crescents, like little new moons. These vines 



80 AMONG THE TREES. 

grow finely in this luxuriant soil, and some large ones 
which we transplanted are twined around our rustic 
porch, and already hang in streamers over the entrance, 
and all the rock work will soon be mantled with the 
verdant covering. 

Within, there is a soft light, sufficiently weird and 
uncertain to suit even our romantic notions. It glances 
satisfactorily on " Cross and character and talisman," 
and glimmers and shimmers with that captivating grace 
which light glancing through trembling leaves is wont to 
assume. We think our grotto charming, with its over 
hanging beech, its climbing vines, its mosses and ferns 
its rocks dripping with frequent showers, — - for rocks and 
verdure are sprinkled liberally by faithful hands, and 
everything is kept in the very nicest order. Isabella, 
Helen, and I, spend many a delightful hour at the grotto , 
it is a very convenient resting-place for the strollers on 
the hills, and we are often visited by other members of 
the family, and whenever any of us are within, White-toes 
mounts guard near the door, and never deserts his post 
while one of us remains. Here we keep in a niche our 
baskets, trowels, botanical boxes, canes, and other imple- 
ments for excursions on the hills, and when we begin to 
prepare at the house for one of these strolls, White-toes 
starts off ahead, and when we reach the grotto, there he 
stands waiting for us, generally with one of our baskets 
between his teeth. Every one considers our hermitage 
a great success, and the beauty of it is, that, like a 
cathedral, it does not finish at once, but can be continu- 
ally added to and improved. We have some brilliant 
improvements in our imaginations, and time only can 
show whether they will be anything more than imag- 
inations. At present, every pretty stone, or shell, or 



AMONG THE TREES. 81 

piece of moss, or graceful fern, is transported to this 
rural retreat to become an inhabitant and an ornament. 

June 27. 
The season is in its perfect prime. The woods are 
filled with their own wood-perfume. Who has not met 
it when entering these warm, dusky forest paths? — this 
subtle and exquisite odor that nature only knows how 
to prepare, and keeps, not bottled up with a tight stopper, 
but floating free on the light wings of every summer 
breeze, — this "scent of the woods," so delicious, so 
exhilarating ; no one can tell what it is like ; there are 
touches of all sweet fragrance in it. It must be Nature's 
wonderful elaboration of aroma, prepared expressly for 
her vernal darlings, wherein is enshrined all rare and 
delicate odors, which are to go — this to the heart of the 
sweet, white violet, and this, in its unequaled delicacy to 
the clusters of Epigea buried beneath old leaves in the 
dark pine groves; this to the tinted bells of the graceful 
Linnsea, and the showering apple-blossoms; this to the 
fragrant birch leaves, and the aromatic sassafras, and 
boxberry, and sweet-fern, and the balsamic pines and 
spruces, and the tribes of mint and balm; this to the 
queenly water-lily, and the superb white lily, and the 
children's darlings, the spring's sweet lilacs ; and this for 
the beloved of all, the roses, the unrivaled roses ; this 
for the soft breath of sunny heliotropes and regal orange- 
blossoms, for genteel, spicy pinks, and those treasures of 
delicious fragrance, the rose-geranium, lemon-verbena, 
and sweet-brier leaves, for gorgeous magnolias, tuberoses, 
and jessamines, for violets, lilies of the valley, and mign- 
onette ; and so of many more which I would not slight, 
but to enumerate them all would fill volumes, but they 



82 AMONG THE TREES. 

are dear to all hearts, whether growing wild in the shaded 

forest, or trained in the sunny garden, or inhaling their 

fragrance from languid tropical airs, or finding it in the 

breezy freshness of "iced mountain tops." To all of 

these myriads of flowers, and leaves, and stems, and 

roots even, is floating the sweet incense ; and the charmed 

cup, the " balm of a thousand flowers," is offered to 

each floral lip, and every graceful petal selects, with 

unerring accuracy, the very combination it needs for its 

own sweet uses. 

June 30. 

" June, the month of leaves and roses," the acme and 
perfection of months, the glowing, central sparkle in the 
summer's mantling cup, — alas, that it has flown with 
its delicious, dewy mornings, its long, long days, cloud- 
less or adorned with great masses of clustering clouds 
which know how to darken into thunderous gloom, 
pouring the refreshing shower upon the expecting ver- 
dure, and then melting away into gorgeous sunsets and 
the glimmer of summer twilights. How can we bear to 
part with June, the very poem of the season, the month 
when the foliage everywhere is filled, and rounded, and 
perfect; such depth of shadow, such masses of sunshine, 
not a faded leaf to be found. It has gone, with its sun- 
light and music and moonlight — the "summer moon" 
which began with the month, the slender crescent " with 
the old moon in its arms," which brightened nightly 
until it looked through leafy woods upon mountain 
streams with the full amount of romance accorded by 
the poets. We must lament for June. What can the 
fervid July or the sultry August bring us to atone for 
this lost treasure ! 



AMONG THE TREES. 



83 



FLOWERS OF JUNE. 



CLASS. 


ORDER. 


GENUS. SPECIES. 


COMMON NAME. 


1. 


1. Ranunculaceae. 


Anemone-Virginiana. 


Tall anemone. 


" 


(t 


Anemone-Pennsylvanica. 


White anemone. 


u 


« 


Thalictrum-cornuti. 


Meadow rue. 


u 


u 


Ranunculus-aquatil is . 


White crowfoot. 


(( 


u 


Ranunculus- Purshii. 


Yellow crowfoot. 


« 


» 


Ran u nculus-recur vatus . 


Hooked crowfoot. 


u 


u 


Ranunculus-acris. 


Tall buttercups. 


" 


4. Menispermaceae. 


Menispermum-Canadense. 


Moonseed. 


M 


6. Nelumbiaceas. 


Nelumbium-luteum. 


Sacred bean. 


" 


8. Nymphaeceae. 


Nymphaea-odorata. 


White water-lily. 


" 


" 


Nuphar-advena. 


Yellow pond-lily. 


« 


9. Sarraceniaceae. 


Sarracenia-purpurea. 


Pitcher -plant. 


" 


11. Fumariacese. 


Corydalis-aurea. 


Golden corydalis. 


" 


" 


Corydalis-glauca. 


Pale corydalis. 


« 


12. Cruciferae. 


Cardainine-rhomboidea. 


Spring cress. 


u 


« 


Cardamine-hirsuta. 


Bitter cress. 


" 


u 


Arabis-hirsuta. 


Rock cress. 


" 


a 


Turritis-glabra. 


Tower mustard. 


a 


15. Violaceaa. 


Viola-rostrata. 


Long-spurred violet. 


(( 


« 


Viola-Canadensis. 


Canada violet. 


« 


« 


Viola-Mublenbergii. 


Dog violet. 


(( 


16. Cistacese. 


Helianthemum-Canadense. 


Rock rose. 


u 


" 


Hudsonia-tomentosa. 


Downy Hudsonia. 


u 


17. Droseraceaa. 


Drosera-longifolia. 


Sundew. 


" 


19. Hjpericacese. 


Hypericum-perforatum. 


St. John's wort. 


(( 


u 


Hypericum- Canadense. 


Copper-colored 
hypericum. 


(< 


u 


Hypericum-Sarothra. 


Orange grass. 


u 


21. Caryophyllaceae. 


Silene-Pennsylvanica. 


Wild pink. 


t( 


C( 


Silene-antirrhina. 


Sleepy catchfly. 


(( 


u 


Aren aria-serpy llifolia. 


White sandwort. 


(( 


(( 


Stellaria-borealis. 


Northern chickweed. 


(( 


u 


Mollugo-verticillata. 


Indian chickweed. 


u 


23. Malvaceae. 


Malva-rotu nd ifolia. 


Mallow. 


« 


26. Linaceae. 


Linum-Virginianum. 


Wild flax. 


(( 


27. Oxalidaceae. 


Oxalis-acetosella. 


White wood-sorrel. 


(( 


28. Geraniaceae. 


Geranium-Robertianum. 


Herb Robert. 


u 


29. Balsaminaceae. 


Impatiens-fulva. 


Spotted touch-me- 
not. 
Stag-horn sumach. 


« 


32. Anachardiaceae. 


Rbus-typhina. 


(( 


a 


Rhus-glabra. 


Smooth sumach. 


(( 


« 


Rhus-venenata. 


Poison sumach. 


f( 


a 


Rhus-toxicodendron. 


Poison ivy. 


{( 


35. Celastraceae. 

! 


Celastrus -scandens . 


Waxwork. 



84 



AMONG THE TREES. 



FLOWERS OF JUNE— Continued. 



CLASS. 


ORDER. 


GENUS. SPECIES. 


COMMON NAME. 


1. 


36. Sapindaceae. 


Staphylea-trifolia. 


Bladder-nut. 


" 


38. Leguminosae. 


Lupinus-perennis. 


Wild lupine. 


" 


cc 


Trephrosia-Virginiana. 


Hoary pea. 


" 


cc 


Baptisia-tinctoria. 


Wild indigo. 


ic 


39. Rosacea?. 


Spiraea-opulifolia. 


Nine bark. 


cc 


u 


Potentilla-argentea. 


Silvery cinquefoil. 


a 


" 


Potentilla-anserina. 


Marsh cinquefoil. 


" 


CC 


Potentilla-fructicosa. 


Shrubby cinquefoil. 


u 


a 


Potentilla-tridentata. 


White potentilla. 


" 


" 


Potentilla-palustris. 


Purple potentilla. 


u 


a 


Rubus-odoratus. 


Flowering raspberry. 


u 


cc 


Rosa-Carolina. 


Swamp rose. 


li 


cc 


Rosa-lucida. 


Dwarf wild-rose. 


K 


(( 


Rosa-blanda. 


Wood-rose. 


a 


u 


Rosa-rubiginosa. 


Sweet-brier. 


» 


" 


Rosa-micrantha. 


Small sweet-brier. 


a 


43. Onagraceae. 


Oenothera-bien n is. 


Evening primrose. 


a 


" 


Oenotbera-pumila. 


Small evening prim- 
rose. 
Prickly pear. 


« 


45. Cactaceae. 


Opuntia-vulgaris. 


" 


50. Saxifragaceae. 


Heuchera- Americana. 


Alum-root. 


" 


52. Unibelliferae. 


Sanicula-Canadensis. 


Sanicle. 


ct 


u 


Archangelica-atropurpurea. 


Great angelica. 


« 


53. Araliaceae. 


Aralia-hispida. 


Wild elder. 


u 


" 


Aralia-nudicanlus. 


Wild sarsaparilla. 


u 


54. Cornaceae. 


Cornus-Canadensis. 


Bunchberry. 


(( 


u 


Cornus-circinata. 


Round-leaved cornel. 


u 


cc 


Cornus-sericea. 


Silky cornel. 


« 


cc 


Cornus-stolonifera. 


Red cornel. 


(( 


a 


Cornus-paniculata. 


Gray cornel. 


M 


55. Caprifoliacese. 


Linnaea-borealis. 


Twin-flower. 


(( 


" 


Diervilla-trifida. 


Bush honeysuckle. 


(( 


cc 


Triosteum-perfoliatum. 


Feverwort. 


i: 


cc 


Sambucus-Canadensis. 


Elder. 


a 


« 


Viburnum dentatum. 


Arrow-wood. 


cc 


58. Rubiaceae. 


Galium-lanceolatum . 


Wild liquorice. 


cc 


" 


Mitchella-repens. 


Partridge-berry. 


" 


60. Lobeliaceae. 


LobeUa-inflata. 


Indian tobacco. 


« 


61. Campanulaceae. 


Campanula-rotundifolia. 


Harebell. 


" 


62. Ericaceae. 


Andromeda-ligustrina. 


Small andromeda. 


" 


cc 


Kalmia-latifolia. 


Mountain laurel. 


» 


« 


Kalmia-angustifolia. 


Lambkill. 




K 


Azalea-viscosa. 


White swamp hon- 
eysuckle. 



AMONG THE TREES. 



85 



FLOWERS OF JUNE— Continued. 



CLASS. 


ORDER. 


GENUS. SPECIES. 


COMMON NAME. 


1. 


62. Ericaceae. 


Ledum-latifolium . 


Labrador tea. 


» 


u 


Pyrola-rotundifolia. 


Fragrant pyrola. 


u 


" 


Pyrola-elliptica. 


Shin leaf. 


" 


" 


Pyrola-chlorantha. 


Small pyrola. 


u 


" 


Moneses-uniflora. 


Pose-colored pyrola. 


K 


» 


Chimaphila-umbellata. 


Prince's pine. 


" 


n 


Chimaphila-maculata. 


Spotted wintergreen 


a 


64. Aquifoliacese. 


Ilex-opaca. 


American holly. 


u 


" 


Ilex-laevigata. 


Winter-berry. 


"■ 


" 


Ilex-glabra. 


Ink berry. 


" 


70. Primulacese. 


Lysimachia-stricta. 


Loose-strife. 


" 


" 


Anagallis-arvensis. 


Scarlet pimpernel. 


a 


73. Orobanchaceae. 


Conopholis-Americana. 


Cancer-root. 


u 


74. Scrophulariaceae. 


Verbascum-thaspus. 


Mullein. 


" 


» 


Verbascum-blattaria. 


Moth mullein. 


" 


a 


Castilleia-coccinea. 


Scarlet painted cup. 


u 


78. Borraginaceae. 


Symphatum-officinale. 


Comfrey. 


" 


" 


Myosotis-verna. 


White forget-me-not 


u 


" 


Lithospermum-arvense. 


(iromwell. 


cc 


u 


Cynoglossum-Virginicum. 


False comfrey. 


" 


81. Convolvulaceae. 


Ipomea-pandurata. 


Wild potato vine. 


« 


u 


Convolvulus-arvensis. 


Bindweed. 


« 


(t 


Cuscuta-epilinum. 


Dodder. 


(( 


82. Solanaceae. 


Solanum-Carolinense. 


Nightshade. 


(( 


85. Asclepiadaceae. 


Asclepias-quadrifolia. 


Pink silkweed. 


2. 


112. Araceae. 


Calla-palustris. 


Water arum. 


» 


119. Orchidaceae. 


Platanthera-obtusata. 


Dwarf orchis. 


(C 


« 


Platantbera-Hookeri. 


Two-leaved orchis. 


a 


» 


Platanthera-bracteata. 


Green orchis. 


u 


" 


Platanthera-hyperborea. 


Northern orchis. 


a 


(c 


Platantbera-fimbriata. 


Purple fringed 
orchis. 


" 


a 


Spiranthes-latifolia. 


Ladies' tresses. 


a 


a 


Pogonia-ophioglossoides. 


Purple arethusa. 




u 


Cypripedium-pubescens. 


Large yellow ladies' - 
slipper. 


u 


u 


Cypripedium-parviflorum. 


Smaller ladies'- 
slipper. 


" 


123. Iridacese. 


Iris-versicolor. 


Blue flag. 


a 


u 


Sisyrinchiura-Bermudiana. 


Blue-eyed grass. 


a 


125. Smilacese. 


Trillium-grandifloruni. 


White trillium. 


t( 


u 


Trillium-erythrocarpum. 


Painted trillium. 


a 


" 


Lilium-Philadelphicum. 


Wild red lily. 




" 


Lilium-Canadense. 


Wild yellow lily. 



86 AMONG THE TREES. 

July 5. 

"' Tis now the prime of summer time," and though 
the middle of the day is often overpowering in its heat, 
the delicious mornings and evenings are charming beyond 
description, and we have been tempted to prolong our 
strolls in these golden midsummer twilights until star- 
light and moonlight added their peculiar charms to the 
shaded landscape. But yesterday a rumor of something 
terrific seemed likely to put an end to grotto visiting and 
woodland wandering. 

While we were at breakfast, John appeared at the 
door with terror on his honest face, to report to "the 
Master," that a man passing by in the early morning 
had seen a Catamount climbing an old tree that stands 
by the brook, and disappearing in a large hole in the 
trunk, from which he heard strange mewings, and sup- 
posed the young ones were in there, — indeed he had seen 
a wild-looking black head popping out before the old 
one went in ! O dear, only to think of it ! A wild-cat, a 
catamount, to spring down upon our heads as we strolled 
thoughtlessly under the trees. And how we had ranged 
those hills and woods ever since we came here, with no 
thought of wild-cat or wild beast of any kind; how we 
had loitered in that grotto till the dusky twilight was 
deepening into evening, and what if one of these prowl- 
ing wretches had pounced upon us in our lingering 
saunter homewards! It was indeed frightful to think of 
the risks which we had run, and now — what was to be 
done ? Father said it could not be true ; it was not 
possible that any of these wild creatures inhabited these 
hills so near to residences, and so much frequented; 
there must be some mistake. 

However, the story was resolutely " stood to " by the 



AMONG THE TREES. 87 

reporters, and as Father had to go in town as soon as 
breakfast was over, he told us we had better not go to 
the woods till he returned, when he would investigate 
matters. John was really afraid to go to the stable for 
the horse, and took the liberty (as we learned later in the 
day) to advise Father to forbid the ladies to " set a foot 
out-of-doors" until his return from town in the after- 
noon. He had to hurry off, however, without time for 
any more instructions, and no sooner had he gone than 
Helen, who has a more extensive acquaintance with the 
inhabitants of the fastnesses than any of us, declared 
that she did not believe one word of this story. She 
said John was afraid of his own shadow, and as he had 
a few days before mistaken a clumsy tortoise of the size 
of his fist for a snake, she did not think his opinion 
w T orth much in questions of natural history. She said 
she believed that this terrific animal was nothing worse 
than a kind of wild tame cat that she had often seen 
scudding across the fields, and had treated to cups of 
milk many a time ; at any rate, there could be no harm 
in calling " pussy, pussy," at a safe distance. So she 
walked out a little way, while we stood on the piazza, 
for the terrible tree, which stands with others at the edge 
of a ravine, is but a short distance from the house. She 
began, in a low, confidential tone, the familiar call of 
u pussy, pussy," and to be sure, in a few moments out 
popped one head, then another, then a third, and there 
was such a clamorous mewing, that Aunt Emily said 
she thought both John and the early traveller were justi- 
fied in feeling alarmed, if the mew of a kitten was a 
new sound to them. Then Helen threw some tempting 
bait towards the tree, and we waited the result. Pres- 
ently out crept an old cat that we both had often seen, 



88 AMONG THE TREES. 

but which I had never fancied, because she was black, 
and wild, and not at all pretty. But Helen, who bestows 
her affections upon every animal she sees, had patronized 
and fed this unpromising specimen, and tried with un- 
availing cares to reclaim her from her vagrant ways, so 
that they were somewhat acquainted, and there was a 
friendly feeling between them. So out she came, and 
then her kittens three, and then we called John to see the 
catamounts eat breakfast, and he looked wonderingly on, 
and said, " Ah, Miss Helen, but you're a wise one." 

July 15. 

I send you to-day a drawing of a remarkable member 
of the floral family ; the botanical name is Sarrace- 
nia- 'purpurea ; the common names are pitcher-plant, 
side saddle flower and hunter's cup. It is called an 
aquatic plant, but is not strictly that, as it does not 
always grow in water, though preferring wet and boggy 
places. There are hundreds growing in an extensive 
swamp which we often pass in riding, but we cannot 
get them there, though sometimes we have an attendant 
who is enterprising enough to brave the mud and water 
which must be forded before they can be reached. It is 
true that we find them in more accessible spots, but none 
to compare with those which come from this dismal 
swamp. It is a surprising plant, the evergreen leaves 
being hollow, little pitchers in fact, with an extension at 
the top forming a sort of lid. The flower is also very 
peculiar; it is large and of greenish yellow and purplish 
colors, with the petals curving over toward the style, and 
the short style expanded into a little five-pointed um- 
brella, sheltering the stamens beneath it, each point turned 
under in a queer little hook. These little pitchers hold 



AMONG THE TREES. 



89 



about as much as a wine-glass, 
and are always found with water 
in them, though it may not have 
rained for weeks ; this gives the 
name of hunter's cup ; but from 
the fact that bugs and little spiders 
and other insects are always found 
drowned in this water, I think a 
hunter must be at the last gasp 
before he could appropriate it. It 
is said that monkeys, in monkey- 
countries, know how to get a drink 
from these natural drinking-cups, 
and even to lift the lids which care- 
fully cover some of them. There 
are but few plants of this family 
in North America. One is found 
in the Southern States, with long, 
drooping yellow petals, and one in 
California. These are all curious 
and interesting, but some that are 
brought from tropical climates, far 
exceed in wonderfulness those of 
our own country. They are called 
Nepenthes or pitcher-plants, and 
differ in many respects from those 
already mentioned. The Nepen- 
thes-distillatoria was brought first 
from China, and it was supposed 
to grow only there. Later, how- 
ever, the same species have been 
found in Madagascar, and many 



27$ 



Kepentbos-distillatoria. 



90 AMONG THE TREES. 

other varieties have been brought from Ceylon, Bengal, 
and Borneo. One very beautiful one grows in New 
Holland, where the pitchers, of graceful shape, are orna- 
mented with red and purple stripes. The accounts of 
these plants are so interesting to me, that I must tell 
you some things which I have learned about them. 
The Nepenthes of tropical climates are all evergreen 
climbers, of elegant habit of growth, and very ornamen- 
tal. Some of these run upon trees to the height of 
twenty or thirty feet. The manner of growth is re- 
markable; the leaf, as it opens at first, gives no sign 
of a pitcher, except in a curling tendril at the point. 
This tendril lengthens, and a small enlargement at the 
end gradually increases and turns upward, and at length 
grows into the size and form of a most captivating 
little pitcher, swinging lightly on the slender tendril, and 
covered with an exactly fitting lid, and raising this lid, 
you see the mysterious vase filled with clear, pure 
water. How came it there? This pitcher hangs sus- 
pended on the stalk six inches or a foot from the 
point of the leaf to which it is attached. On one 
plant you will sometimes see forty or fifty pitchers. The 
flowers of these plants are small and unattractive, but 
the plants are full of interest. In the Nepenthes -distilla- 
toria, the pitchers are five or six inches long, graceful 
and symmetrical as the classic models of antique vases: 
the lid circular and about an inch in diameter; the color, 
a rich soft yellow, shaded with red or purple ; the ever- 
green leaves are delicately shaped, and the tendrils, con- 
necting the pitcher with the leaf, have a graceful way of 
curling into rings like the tendrils of grape vines. One 
fine species which is called the Nepenthes- Raffle siana, 
produces the largest and most elegant pitchers of any 



AMONG THE TREES. 91 

cultivated in Europe ; the acute linear leaves are eighteen 
inches long, and the tendrils about the same length ; the 
pitcher is six inches deep, and two or three inches in 
diameter ; the edge into which the lid shuts is orna- 
mented with a broad rim of brown and purple, and the 
whole of the outside of pitcher and lid is mottled and 
spotted with deep crimson and purple ; the leaves are 
beautifully green and shining, and the whole thing 
attractive and wonderful. The Sarracenias of North 
America would seem sufficiently curious and interesting 
if these tropical ones did not go so far beyond them ; but 
these, in their turn, are cast into the shade by some gor- 
geous ones very recently discovered in the mountains of 
Borneo, which in size and splendor surpass anything 
previously seen or imagined. Pitchers large enough to 
hold the cream for a good sized family breakfast, twelve 
inches deep, and four or five in diameter; around the 
edge at the top is a brilliant ring, an inch and a half 
wide, gracefully rolled over upon the unique pitcher, the 
gay and beautiful coloring of which is astonishing. 
How delightful it must be to sail away to those won- 
drous climes, where Nature spends herself in getting up 
these remarkable productions; and then to climb those 
tropical mountains where a succession of all tempera- 
tures brings to life the plants suited to all climes, where 
Nature has had so many centuries to work undisturbed, 
as one may say, that amazing results are brought to 
pass. 

I am reminded here of a beautiful curiosity which has 
been introduced recently into this country, the lace-leaf 
plant, as it is called. It is a native of Madagascar, and 
has been cultivated in Europe but a few years. The 
plant is entirely aquatic, taking root in the mud at the 



92 AMONG THE TREES. 

bottom of streams, the leaves being always underwater, 
but the flower-stalk reaching the surface and the blossom 
expanding above water. This species is the Ouvirandra- 
fenestralis, and its peculiarity consists in the wonderful 
structure of the leaves; they are of a vivid and beau- 
tiful green, and wholly composed of the most slender 
fibres in a delicate reticulation, resembling emerald net- 
work or lace, or open needle-work. Fragile as these 
leaves appear, like a gossamer web, they yet possess a 
flexible strength which allows them to be lifted by the 
hand, and examined, and subjected to tolerably rough 
usage without injury. This rarity has already given a 
hint to the artificial flower makers, and the net-work 
artificial leaves are imitations of this remarkable pro- 
duction. 

Another species with pretty rose-colored flowers is also 
under cultivation, and it is found that these plants thrive 
well in large glass jars partly filled with water, and a 
small quantity of earth deposited upon the bottom for 
the roots. 

July 25. 

If you wish to see quantities of elegant and fairy- 
like humming-birds, you should be here on these sunny 
summer forenoons. They come in swarms, all of a 
flutter, humming and glancing about the fragrant blos- 
soms of the honeysuckle, and then away they go, nobody 
can tell where, for they go as they came, like a flash, 
but it is only for a few moments; then back they come 
again, for the honeysuckle bushes are delightful to them. 
By standing very still under the sprays, one can have 
the pleasure of having them flutter almost into one's 
mouth, for they do not seem to know that any one is 
around, and fly and dart here and there and everywhere. 



AMONG THE TREES. 93 

If I only had the faith I once had in the salt-throwing 
legend, this would be a splendid field for experimenting. 
The other day several came, all of a buzz, to examine 
some plants which were setting in one of the open win- 
dows of the parlor, and though I was reading in a chair 
close to these flowers, they did not mind me at all; they 
stayed as long as they pleased and came back several 
times. They are bewitchingly beautiful, with their 
changing colors and perfect grace, and being all in a 
flurry, which is so damaging to beauties in general, 
seems only to increase their charms. Their nests are 
the most lovely little contrivances, so small that they 
look like pretty playthings, but so elegantly finished and 
so comfortably lined with the soft, cinnamon-fern wool, 
that you see they are designed for use as well as orna- 
ment. The gorgeous butterflies also sail in the brilliant 
light, and open and shut their wonderful wings for our 
delighted eyes, and in these glowing midsummer nights 
the nocturnal moths dash through the pillars of the piazza 
and wheel around the flowers. Moths ! I at least, 
never dreamed of such a thing as a splendid moth before 
I came here to live. I never knew exactly what they 
were, but thought of them as a kind of mysterious 
horror, " fretting garments," and taking the hue of what 
they fed upon. But these with their superb wings can 
have no fellowship with such mysterious horrors ; they 
may be related scientifically, but I do not believe they 
acknowledge the relationship. Sometimes in the woods 
we find these nocturnal moths stowed away under large 
leaves, fast asleep apparently, and waiting for their hour 
of dusky awaking. I found one the other day of a deli- 
cate buff color, with a black cross clearly and beautifully 
defined upon its wings. A boy living near us, has made 



94 AMONG THE TREES. 

a large collection of such as are found in this vicinity. T 
told him I should hate to kill them ; he said he did not 
kill them, he only gave them a dose of chloroform and 
then pinned them into his cases. He also introduced us 
to the beauty of the humming-birds' nests, and these he 
said he found, but both Helen and I think he would not 
mind taking them from the little birds themselves. He 
advanced the doctrine that one must kill a great many 
things if one wished to learn anything; and this senti- 
ment not meeting with much favor from us, he politely 
remarked that this was the reason girls did not know 
anything ; they would not kill insects, and were afraid of 
bugs and worms. He seemed to feel quite a contempt 
for the sex. The other night a perfect drove of some- 
thing came dashing at the latest touch of twilight 
around some brilliant scarlet flowers in the yard. See- 
ing in the dim light these flying objects, and hearing a 
great buzzing, we hurried to the scene of action, and to 
our excited fancies there seemed a great swarm of hum- 
ming-birds, but one of the party pronounced them noc- 
turnal moths, and they probably could see, in this dusky 
light, the brilliant colors of the flowers. They really 

looked as large as humming-birds. 

July 29. 

Although more flowers are found in June than in any 
other month, July has a fair amount to offer, and some 
are very showy, even magnificent. Just now the hedges; 
and the shrubs along the streams, are adorned with the 
luxuriant wild clematis, which runs over everything, its 
pretty white blossoms gleaming out among the green. 
Later in the season, the seed-vessels of this vine have 
long plumy silken tails growing very thickly, and of a 
silvery gray color, and this is called " Old man's beard," 



AMONG THE TREES. 95 

and looks decidedly like that venerable appendage, for 
we have a branch which we kept all winter. 

The Epilobium, or willow-herb, with its mingling of 
soft shades of light and dark lilac, the Spireas with ra- 
cemes of purple and white flowers, and the many varieties 
of silkweed or milkweed, are very ornamental. We 
have found two species of silkweed which are beauties, 
the tuberosa with brilliant orange flowers, and the deli- 
cate quadrifolia with pale pink flowers in graceful um- 
bels. The bladder-campion we also find this month, — a 
singular flower, the fragile white petals cleft more than 
half way down, so as to look still more fragile, and the 
inflated calyx of pale green, elegantly veined with purple. 
The wild ginger is interesting and rather rare. You 
find two round shining green leaves of velvety softness 
on slender stems, and between these, the solitary blos- 
som, growing so close to the ground as sometimes to be 
partly hidden by the soil ; yet it is worthy of being care- 
fully extracted and examined, for it is quite unlike any- 
other flower : the color is a somewhat lurid purplish 
brown, and the thick bell-shaped corolla is deeply divided 
into three acute segments. One of the charming Are- 
thusa family which grows in the damp meadows is the 
Calopogon-pulche/lus, in botanical phrase, the grass-pink 
its common name. Early in the spring its pretty little 
cousin, Arethusa-bulbosa, came with the vernal hours, its 
fair solitary flower very graceful and bright ; but this 
more brilliant variety has six or eight large, rose-purple, 
sweet-scented blossoms on the stem, and the expanded 
lip of the flower is crested with a fringe of purple, 
orange, and white. The lovely little blue forget-me-not 
is abundant, and the gay orange lily, and the pale yellow 
lily, are noticeable in all the fields. The pretty wild- 



yb AMONG THE TREES. 

roses are now in perfection, and the sweet-brier, or eglan- 
tine, as the poets call it, is worthy of its graceful name, 
and the exquisite fragrance of its flowers, leaves, and 
stems floats on the languid July breeze. The evening 
primrose is fragrant also, and this is a nocturnal flower, 
saluting, as it seems, the setting sun; for then, just at 
sunset, the buds which have been shut all day, suddenly 
burst wide open as the long calyx leaves spring back to 
the stem. Some botanical writers say that these " spring 
back with a loud popping noise," but this we have not 
heard. It is but just, however, to say that these flowers 
grow far off in the distant fields, so that we should not 
be likely to hear these sunset guns if they really are 
fired. The flowering raspberry is very handsome, both 
in leaf and flower, the dark crimson blossoms looking 
much like a wild rose, and the buds more beautiful if 
possible than rose-buds. The scarlet pimpernel is a dear 
little flower, and interesting, because so intelligent in 
regard to the weather, never opening its eyes if it is 
going to rain, or even be very damp ; but if it is to be a 
fine day, it spreads wide its tiny scarlet corolla at eight 
o'clock in the morning, and looks out upon the sunshine 
until two in the afternoon. A pretty species of mullein 
we also find, — not the common yellow, growing by deso- 
late road-sides, where everything looks dusty and forlorn, 
and the mullein stalks forlornest of all, — but the moth 
mullein, as it is called, with soft, creamy-white flowers 
shaded with purple, and the slender filaments all curiously 
bearded with the softest violet wool. The mountain 
laurel is now abundant, — a fine shrub with evergreen 
glossy leaves, and a profusion of showy clusters of light 
and dark rose-color fading into white. We have not 
found the Rhododendron, or rose-bay, though we hope to, 



AMONG THE TREES. 97 

as we hear it grows a few miles from here. We have 

had a branch given us by a friend, and I wish you could 

see the superb flower. The green leaves are six or eight 

inches long, a shining evergreen, and from the midst of 

a tuft of these come out the fifteen or twenty gorgeous 

blossoms, several inches in length and two or three in 

diameter, of the softest pink or pale rose-color, or white 

with purple dots inside, and a touch of tender green that 

is enchanting. Nothing more splendid can be found in 

cultivation than this magnificent wild-wood shrub, which 

chooses for its home those secluded water-courses in 

mountainous regions where the intruding foot or hand 

seldom penetrate. 

July 31. 

We could not bear to say farewell to June, nor do we 
falter in our allegiance to this queen of verdure and of 
flowers. But July is no unfitting successor. Kept 
within doors often by the fervid heat, we have found 
the languid noons, with their continuous summer hum, 
brought their own deliciousness. July is indeed splen- 
did, glorious; the sun is tropical in its heat, but the trees 
throw dense shadows, great black spots on the hot grass, 
and the scent of new-mown hay fills the sultry air with 
fragrance. The grand thunder-storms roll up hurriedly, 
and the mowers and reapers in the meadows below have 
had to "run for it" more than once. The portentous 
silence, the unnatural darkness fill the spirit w T ith awe; 
we can hardly breathe, we almost long for the thunder 
peal to break the appalling stillness. And it comes, — 
crashing through the inky clouds with lightning and hail, 
and the down-pouring of the sheeted rain. A few 
moments of plunging drops flooding the garden paths 
and tumbling headlong from the choked water-spouts, 



98 



AMONG THE TREES. 



and the darkness passes away and the sun looks through 
the great drops, and that delicious ground-smell that 
comes after summer thunder-gusts, floats in on the fresh 
and elastic breeze. The sultry and oppressive atmos- 
phere has given place to a delightful coolness and clear- 
ness; not a speck of dust is left on the rejoicing verdure. 
July is beautiful in its season and so, we doubt not, will 
be midsummer August. 




AMONG THE TREES. 



FLOWERS OF JULY. 





ORDER. 


GENUS. SPECIES. 


1. 


Ranunculaceae. 


Cimicifuga-racemosa. 


2. 


Mas;uoliaceae. 


Magnolia-glauca. 


17. 


Droseraceae. 


Drosera-rotundifolia. 


19. 


Hypericaceje. 


Hypericum-corymbosurn. 
Hypericum-ellipticum. 

Hy peri cu m -ad pressu m . 


21. 


Caryophyllaceae. 


Saponaria-officinalis. 

Silene-stellata. 

Silene-inflata. 


20. 


Linaceae. 


Linum-Boottii. 


29. 


Balsaminaceae. 


Impatiens-pallida. 


34. 


Rhamnaceae. 


Ceanothus-Americanus. 


37. 


Polygalaceae. 


Polygala-polygama. 


38. 


Leguminosae. 


Crotalaria-sa»;ittalis. 
Cassia-Marylandica. 


39. 


Rosaceae. 


Spirea-salicifolia. 
Spirea-tomentosa. 
A^riinonia-Enpatoria. 
Geum-strictum. 




« 


Potent illa-arguta. 




u 


Dalibarda repens. 


41. 


Melastomaceae. 


Khexia- Virgin ica. 


43. 


Onograceae. 


Epilobiuni-an^ustifolium. 




u 


Epilobium-palustre. 




u 


Epilobium-coloratum. 
Circaea-alpina. 



52. Umbellii'erae. 



53. Araliaceae. 
56. Rubiaceae. 

59. Compositae. 



60. Lobeliaceoe. 
62. Ericaceae. 



| Archangelica-peregrina. 
Discopleura-capillacea. 
Conium-maculatum. 
Aralia-racemosa. 
Cephalanthus-occidentalis. 
Mitchella-repens. 
A ster-cory m bosu s . 
Erecth ites -hieracifolia. 
Iva-frutescens. 
Cichorium-Intybus. 
Lobelia-cardinalis. 
Gaultheria-procumbens. 
Clethra-alnifolia. 



COMMON NAME. 



Black snakeroot. 
Small magnolia. 
Round leaved 

sundew. 
Dotted hypericum. 
Light yellow 

bypericum 
Bright yellow 

hypericum. 
Soapwort. 
Starry campion. 
Bladder campion. 
Yellow flax. 
Pale touch-me-not. 
New Jersey tea. 
Rose-purple 

milkwort. 
Eattlebox. 
Wild senna. 
Meadow-sweet. 
Hard hack. 
Agrimony. 
Yellow avens. 
Cinquefoil. 
Dry strawberry. 
Meadow beauty. 
Willow herb. 
Slender epilobium. 
Purple epilobium. 
Enchanter's 

nightshade. 
Archangelica. 
Bishop's weed. 
Poison hemlock. 
Spikenard. 
Button-bnsh. 
Partridge-berry. 
White aster. 
Fireweed. 
High water shrub. 
Succory. 
Cardinal flower. 
Wintergreen. 
Sweet clethra. 



100 



AMONG THE TREES. 



FLOWERS OF JULY — Continual. 



CLASS. 


ORDER. 


GENUS. SPECIES. 


COMMON NAME. 


1. 


62. Ericaceae. 


Kalmia-glauca. 


Pale laurel. 


44 


« 


Pyrola-secunda. 


One-sided pyrola. 


" 


44 


Monotropa-hypopitys. 


Pine sap. 


» 


74. Scrophularlaceae. 


Gerardia-purpurea. 


Purple Gerardia. 


(C 


77. Labiatae. 


Germander-Canadense. 


Wood sage. 


» 


» 


Trichostema-dichotomum. 


Blue curls. 


- « 


44 


Mentha-Canadensis. 


Mountain mint. 


» 


" 


Cunila-Mariana. 


Dittany. 


.1 


82. Solanacese. 


Solanum dulcamara. 


Bittersweet. 


" 


» 


Solanum-nigrUm: 


Nightshade. 


" 


44 


Physalis-Philadelphica. 


Ground cherry 


u 


(4 


Nicandra-ph y saloides. 


Apple of Peru. 


» 


44 


Hyoscyamus-niger. 


Black henbane. 


u 


44 


Datura stramonium. 


Thorn apple. 


u 


83. Gentianaceae. 


Sabbatia-stellaris. 


Centuary. 


u 


44 


Sabbatia chlorides. 


Bose-colorerl 
centuary. 


(1 


85. Asclepiadaceae. 


Asclepias-cornuti. 


Greenish silkvveed. 


44 


" 


Asclepias -purpura scens. 


Purple silkweed. 


(4 


44 


Asclepias-obtusifolia. 


Wavy silkweed. 


" 


44 


Asclepias incarnata. 


Swamp silkweed. 


44 


44 


Asclepias tuberosa. 


Orange butterfly- 
weed. 


» 


87. Aristolochiaceae. 


Aristolochia serpentaria. 


Snakeroot. 


" 


89. Phytolaccaceae. 


Phytolacca -decandra. 


Pigeon -berry. 


» 


90. Chenopodiaceae. 


Salicornia-mucronata. 


Crimson samphire. 


2. 


119. Orchidaceae. 


Gymnadenia-tridentata. 


Greenish orchis. 


« 


« 


Platanthera-dilitata. 


White orchis. 


" 


44 


Platanthera-flava. 


Yellowish orchis. 


» 


" 


Platanthera ciliaris. 


Yellow fringed orchis 


44 


44 


Platan thera-Clephariglottis 


White fringed orchis 


(4 


" 


Platanthera-lacera. 


Ragged orchis. 


" 


" 


Platanthera-psycodes. 


Small purple orchis. 


" 


44 


Spiranthes gracilis. 


Ladies' tresses. 


44 


44 


Calopogon pulchellus. 


Swamp pink. 


(4 


44 


Tipularia-discolor. 


Crane-fly orchis. 


14 


44 


Microstylus-monophyllus. 


Adder s mouth. 


it 


44 


Corallorhiza-multiflora. 


Coral root. 


U 


(4 


Cypripedium spectabile. 


Showy ladies'-slipper 


M 


(4 


Lilium-superbum. 


Superb wild lily. 



AMONG THE TREES. 



101 




August 1. 
The trees we shall most assuredly study, the beautiful, 
the graceful, the stately, the hundred armed, the dear old 
protecting trees. How wonderful they are; as much so 
as those immense rocks which one sometimes sees in a 
fair, level green field, looking as if they could not have 
grown, could not have been thrown there, could not 
have come there in any imaginable way. So these 
great trees seem: when did they grow? They are no 
larger that one can see from year to year, How myste- 
rious they are, in silent grandeur putting on their vernal 
robes, as silently putting them off in autumn, and stand- 
ing in solemn dignity with their dark, bare branches 
drawn up to delicate points against the gray wintry sky. 
And the bare branches are a study of themselves ; the 
eye delights to follow the perfect lines, the cathedral 



102 AMONG THE TREES. 

arches, the boughs interlacing in every graceful arrange- 
ment. How persons can cut down trees so remorselessly, 
passes my comprehension. To destroy these natural 
ornaments which a life-time cannot restore, these mar- 
velous structures, every slender twig, every buoyant leaf 
revealing the hand of Omnipotence, and none the less 
marvelous because so freely bestowed on vale and hill. 
or because so little appreciated by so many over whom 
they throw their grateful shade. I should never build 
town nor city if I had to sacrifice these " nobles to the 
manor born ; " I wish every one who has the gift of 
eloquence would plead for the trees. T remember notic- 
ing in a beautiful village on the Hudson, a majestic 
chestnut-tree standing right in the centre of a handsome 
street, where it might be considered somewhat in the 
way, and in the same town, in front of a pretty house, 
some graceful forest trees were left standing ; passing 
directly through the tasteful piazza, they waved their 
mighty arms above the roof, and stretching over, shook 
hands with others behind the house. I wish a noble 
oak, or perhaps a vase-shaped elm, grew in the middle 
of our parlor. Trees are so solemn too, in the dusk or 
later in the evening; the very soul is oppressed with awe 
in standing under their heavy shade. Aunt Emily says 
she can never forget the pang with which she watched in 
early days the gradual decay of a fine maple which 
hung over the gateway of her New England home. 
Two of these noble trees grew side by side; in autumn 
the tints of one were crimson, the other golden, and 
though at some distance below the front of the house, 
the mingled flush of color, when lighted by the after- 
noon sun, flooded the parlors with an unforgotten glow. 
From some unknown cause, the golden-tinted began to 



AMONG THE TREES. 103 

decay at the top, branch after branch, until the tree was 
dead.' 

Its companion came out with all its wealth of ver- 
dure for one summer after its friend was gone, and for 
one autumn its crimson banners threw back the glancing 
light, and then the same sad process began with that. 
About this time the family decided to leave the old 
home for a climate less severe, and the natural sorrow at 
bidding farewell to the beloved and beautiful spot, was 
mitigated by the fact that the trees, the dear familiar 
trees, the family pets, the overshadowing friends, whose 
leaves had danced gayly above the young heads, or 
sighed pensively over the older, were saying to each 
other, with prophetic whisper, " Let us depart." 

Many of the trees around here are new to Father and 
to Aunt Emily. Along the banks of the ravine and up 
to the hill-tops, grow walnut-trees, chestnut, tulip, sas- 
safras, sweet-gum, witch-hazel, locust, ash, dogwood, 
poplar, maple, birch, beech, elm, oak, larch, cypress, 
juniper, hemlock, spruce, cedar, pine, fir, and others. 
On the bank opposite my window, a weather-beaten old 
chestnut, with its brawny and battered limbs, stands 
close beside two beautiful tulip-trees, fresh and fair in all 
the pride of youthful symmetry. The tulip-trees have 
been profusely decked with the blossoms which distin- 
guish them, and are still adorned with elegant and 
luxuriant foliage, but their sturdy neighbor, with no 
beauty to boast of, has " something than beauty dearer " 
to some eyes, and is noticeable from afar for the thickly 
crowded chestnut burs, bristling in all directions, and 
waiting only for the frosts of autumn to ripen and open, 
and shower down the nuts to expecting hands. 

By and by I shall give you the botanical names of 



104 AMONG THE TREES. 

some of the trees, for we are going to learn all about 
them, and shall have a tree-book as well as a flower- 
book. But without knowing them scientifically, there 
is much to interest a mere common acquaintance. The 
variety of trees around here, astonishes many of our city 
visitors, — twenty-three at least, in the walk from the 
front fence to the mountain top, — and they wonder how 
we can tell one tree from another by the bark, all tree-bark 
looking alike to them ; but let them have a home in the 
country some day, with their own majestic trees tower- 
ing above their heads, and they will soon learn to tell 
one kind of tree from another. 

There are a dozen or more varieties of oak which are 
found in this vicinity, all having a family resemblance, 
and it does seem as though it would be difficult to tell 
the points of difference, but they are understood by ob- 
servant eyes, and many of the unlearned farmers know 
at a glance a red-oak from a white, and all others as 
well. 

The white-oak has deep acorn cups with little bunches 
on them, and acorns about an inch long, and the bark 
is whitish with dark spots upon it; the dwarf-oak has 
small, sweet acorns, in such abundance as to weigh the 
branches to the ground ; the red-oak has acorn-cups so 
shallow as to look like saucers ; while in the black-oak 
the cups are so deep as to half cover the acorns ; the 
scarlet-oak has large acorns rounded alike at both ends 
and a deep cup, and in autumn the leaves turn scarlet 
unlike any other oak ; the pin-oak is remarkable for 
great numbers of small branches which die as the tree 
grows older, leaving bunches of short stems which look 
like great pins driven into the trunk; and thus every 
species has something particularly its own which shows 
where it belongs. 



AMONG THE TREES. 105 

So with the striking and interesting birches. The 
white-birch, " Bride of the Woods," is a slender, grace- 
ful tree, with chalky white bark gleaming through the 
forests ; the leaves are long-pointed, shining, and tremu- 
lous ; the canoe, or paper-birch, has a bark which splits 
into numerous thin sheets which can be made into 
various pretty things, and upon which little boys and 
girls often write notes, and upon which you really can 
draw and write very nicely. 

As it is called the canoe-birch, it was of this, no 
doubt, that Hiawatha made his wonderful canoe, — 

" ' Give me of your bark, birch-tree, 
Lay aside your cloak, birch-tree ! ' 
And the tree with all its branches 
Rustled in the breeze of morning, 
Saying with a sigh of patience, 
' Take my cloak, Hiawatha ! ' " 

The red-birch has a reddish-brown bark ; the yellow- 
birch a yellowish-silvery bark ; the sweet-birch has dark 
chestnut-colored bark ; the leaves and twigs have a spicy, 
aromatic taste, and an agreeable odor, and the wood is 
rose-colored ; this is a lovely kind. The American 
poplar, or aspen, is also an interesting tree, with dark- 
green leaves, and the long leaf-stalks laterally com- 
pressed, so that the very faintest breeze keeps them 
tremulously in motion. The abele, or silver poplar, has 
leaves dark-green above and silvery white beneath, and 
when the wind sw T ays them, the white linings turn out, 
looking like long sprays of fair white flowers. And of 
the delightful maples there is some distinguishing char- 
acteristic for each of the many species. The sweet-gum 
tree (Liquidambar), which grows abundantly in this 
region, is one of the most beautiful trees I ever saw ; 
the star-shaped leaves are now of a fine green, and in 



106 AMONG THE TREES. 

the autumn, we are told they are more brilliantly colored 
than the maples, often mottled in a peculiar manner 
with crimson and green, and a shade of gray melting 
into a soft lavender tint ; the seed-vessels are peculiar, 
— round balls covered with bluntish spines. We found 
many of these in the winter. The bark of the tree yields 
an odorous gum, a " fragrant terebinthine juice." 

Are you tired of trees ? I could fill pages with notices 
of our new friends belonging to this class, but will leave 
them now, though not without an affectionate word for 
the sassafras, aromatic from the tiptop airy leaf to -the 
deepest roots burrowing beneath the soil, and a tribute 
of admiration to that ornament of the woods, the gay 
Cornus-florida (flowering dogwood), which fairly lights 
up the woods with its showy white blossoms in early 
spring, and these are succeeded in autumn by softly 
colored berries. Then the solemn old hemlocks are 
wonderful trees, so fragile and graceful in youth, so 
sturdy and majestic in middle life, so dark, distorted, 
strange, and fitful, in old age. One of these immense 
trees stands beside a horrid looking old house (which is 
called haunted), on a lonely and dreary road, and it really 
looks as if some dreadful sight seen within the great, 
desolate windows, had frightened it out of all shape ; on 
the side towards the house, it presents only a gnarled 
mass of black and broken, tangled and twisted stems, 
with not one sign of life or verdure, while the other side 
is green, but the foliage is all huddled up in bunches, 
and hangs in great unsightly balls upon the very ends 
of the crooked boughs, as if something had sent it 
hurrying along the misshapen branches to get as far 
away as possible from whatever it was that frightened 
it. 



AMONG THE TREES. 107 

At this season the profusion of flowers is decreasing, 
the delicate vernal blossoms have faded and gone, and 
some brilliant later flowers have not yet appeared. In 
the glaring sunshine of these glowing noons, — 

" The bowers are mute, the fountains dry, 
And ever Fancy's wing 
Speeds from beneath the cloudless sky, 
To autumn or to spring." 

But the trees are in full and overshadowing beauty, so 
we are making friends of these. In a few days we are 
going to New England, that mother-land so dear to every 
loyal son and daughter. For five or six weeks we shall 
miss whatever Nature may bring to this fair region, but 
we hope to find treasures on the New England hills. 

Before we go, I must tell you something of parasitic 
plants, also of air-plants. Several plants of the parasitic 
family are found in the woods around here ; they differ 
much from our floral favorites, and have " ways of their 
own," which separate them from our dear and true and 
honest woodland friends, who are above suspicion as to 
any mean or underhand processes. 

August 5. 

We have found several parasitic plants, some with 
pretty flowers and others with curious ones. But the 
whole family (Plantce-parasiticce) are destitute of the 
peculiar charm of honest wild-wood blossoms, or of the 
ethereal spirituality which distinguishes the air-plants. 
Still they have an interest as varieties in the domain of 
Nature. There is, however, something in their predatory 
way of getting a living which no honest mind can ap- 
prove ; not the old-fashioned, faithful, and trustful work- 
ing for it, from seed to flower, in that mother-earth where 



108 



AMONG THE TREES. 



most of the flo/al tribes find nourishment, bu: stealing 
from root or branch of hapless neighbors the living and 
vital juices, which they by patient processes have elab- 
orated for their own sustenance. These parasitic 
plants do not send their roots into the earth, but attach 
themselves to shrubs and trees in various ways. Some 




of them have green foliage, others have no leaves at all, 
only blossoms and colorless bracts. 

The American dodder ( Cuscuti- Gronovii) is with us 
the most common example of this class of plants. The 
seed of the dodder falls into the soil, and springing up, 
attaches itself to the first plant it touches, and, clinging 
closely to its victim, its own root soon dies and the 



AMONG THE TREES. 109 

lower part of its stem perishes, and hereafter the para- 
site lives upon the plant to which it has affixed itself, 
sending little rootlets into its vital tissues, and coiling 
round and round it in a snarl of yellow, leafless tendrils. 
Then there is the mistletoe, so famed in song. I am 
sorry the mistletoe is a parasite, so poetical as it is and 
so beautiful also. But alas, with its smooth green leaves 
and brilliant pearly white berries, it is an accomplished 
marauder and totally unscrupulous; not only does it 
send its roots through the bark and growing wood of 
the tree it fixes upon, and steal the ascending sap to 
give verdure to its own leaves and glitter to its polished 
berries, but the pillager so incorporates itself with the 
tree whose life it steals as to appear to be actually a 
part of it. Another of these parasites is the painted 
cup ( Cas til/ eia-coc cine a), the upper leaves of which are 
brilliantly colored with scarlet; this is a handsome, 
showy little plant, in which we took a great interest one 
summer in Connecticut, and transplanted it over and 
over again to the garden, with no success whatever; it 
would never live. This gay favorite we now find is a 
parasite, and none of this family will bear transplanting. 
The purple and yellow Gerardias belong to this plunder- 
ing family, also beech-drops (Epiphegus-Virginiana), 
pine-sap (Aphy/Ion-uniflorum), and the pallid Indian- 
pi pe ( Monotropa-uniflorum). 

These last have a weirdish glimmer and ghostly gleam, 
and turn black in drying, as do parasitic plants generally. 
A wonderful parasitic plant is found in Sumatra, 
growing upon grape-vines. It has no leaves, and the 
blossom, which is of pale orange, mottled with purple 
and white, is nine feet in circumference and weighs 
fifteen pounds. Woe to the hapless grape-vine which 



110 AMONG THE TREES. 

this monster grapples. Mr. A. O. Moore , describes a 
remarkable parasite which he saw in Central America 
called " Mater-palo, or tree-killer ; " it looks like an enor 
mous tree composed of six or eight trunks, which star* 
from the ground independently of each other, at different 
distances in a circle of twenty feet or more; after as- 
cending twenty or thirty feet, these interlace, and unite, 
and finally become one, the tree growing to the height 
of one hundred and fifty feet. In reality the seeds of 
this parasite take root in the bark of some tree, sending 
down branches to the earth at various points to support 
it, and side-shoots to stretch around the trunk; these 
grow very rapidly, and the interlacing coils, as they 
increase, press more and more tightly upon the tree 
beneath, which, no longer able to expand, soon dies. He 
says that he saw one of these which had chosen a palm- 
tree for its victim, not knowing perhaps that in the 
palm-trees the new layers of wood are deposited in the 
centre of the stem, instead of under the outer bark, and 
the trunk never increasing in diameter, however tall the 
tree may grow, it may be squeezed to any extent with- 
out injury. And so it happened in this case; at the 
height of fifty or sixty feet, the plume-like top of the 
palm came waving out from the arms of its conquered 
enemy all fresh, and green, and flourishing. 

In another instance, the treacherous destroyer had 
mistaken a column-like rock for a tree, and had wound 
it round and round with its cables; the rock seemed 
very tranquil and comfortable, but the baffled thief wore 
an unthrifty look, and he adds, "one could not help 
exulting, as at a case of disappointed villainy." The 
order Fungi consists of parasitic plants ; it includes 
mushrooms, mould, blight, mildew, puff-balls, and all 



AMONG THE TREES. Ill 

those disagreeable things. A horrid family, I think, and 
I shall never be a true botanist, if to be that, it is ne- 
cessary to love these and enjoy examining them. I 
hate to touch them, — soft, spongy, moist, unpleasant 
bodies that they are. But the crisp, and clean, and 
charming lichens, decking the rough rocks and the old 
fences, — these do not belong to the parasites, they are the 
unpretending sisters of the gay and flaunting air-plants. 

August 6. 

The unique and elegant air-plants must not be classed 
with the parasites, though some writers do thus con- 
found them. They are no parasites, but children of the 
air, rare and radiant blossoms fostered by fragrant gales 
in spicy islands, or glowing tropical countries. It is 
true that they attach themselves to the trunks and 
branches of trees, but not to steal their vital juices nor 
to strangle them in treacherous embraces, but to adorn 
them with a wealth of gorgeous beauty, which no pen 
or pencil can portray. They choose those positions 
which will bring them the soft breath of tropical breezes, 
the humid airs which float in the sultry tangles of musky 
groves, and the reflected light which quivers through the 
dense foliage of equatorial forests ; they steady them- 
selves in their elevations by a light lacing of slender 
fibres around the trunks or branches of trees, but these 
penetrate no vital part, and do no injury. During the 
rainy season in these warm latitudes, they grow with 
great rapidity, sending roots into the air and drawing 
from thence their nourishment; these aerial roots stand 
out in all directions around the pseudo-bulbs, as they 
are called ; these bulbs vary in size from one to several 
inches, and from their points the leaves spring ; they 



112 



AMONG THE TREES. 



are generally long and narrow leaves, and often strangely 
mottled with brown, red, purple, and white. At the 




Sagittaria-variabilis. 



oase of these bulbs, the flower-stalks shoot up, vary- 
ing in length in different plants, and bearing some- 
times one brilliant blossom, sometimes fifty or one 
hundred. The flower-stalks are jointed, with a small 



AMONG THE TREES. 113 

scale at each joint, and upon the end sway the gor- 
geous blossoms, resembling glittering butterflies, or gay- 
tropical insects ; and the slender, neutral-tinted stem, 
unnoticed amidst brighter coloring, often several feet in 
length, swinging with every breeze, and lifting and 
floating the winged blossom, makes the illusion perfect. 
These plants are the greatest curiosities in the floral 
world, and the richest rarities of the greenhouse. It is 
said that they were described in '• terms of glowing rap- 
ture " by the early writers on the floral productions of India 
and tropical America, yet their cultivation in Europe 
lias been comparatively recent, and until the present 
century they were scarcely known in England and still 
less in this country. Dr. Lindley was chiefly instru- 
mental in introducing these fantastic wonders to flower- 
lovers in England, and of late years they have been 
sought for with eagerness, and at one time a large ship 
came freighted with orchids only, and as many as three 
thousand species are at present cultivated in England. 

Orchids are generally air-plants, but a few grow upon 
the ground, and these are called terrestrial orchids. " El- 
Espiritu- Santo," or dove-flower! Do you not remember 
the enchanting description we read of that flower? the 
blossom like a pure and pearly cup, and poised within it 
the image of a snowy dove, the white wings lightly 
dropped with purple ; we thought it must be a fabrica- 
tion, a " travellers wonder." But this wondrous plant 
[Peristera-elata), a native of Panama and other South 
American countries, is now cultivated in England and 
the United States. It is a terrestrial orchid, though I 
think, of all others, this white- winged dove has a right to 
float in air. The pseudo-bulbs of the dove-flower are 
upon the surface of the ground, and take root enough 

8 



114 AMONG THE TREES. 

for their own purposes; they are bright green in color, 
and several inches long, and the leaves which spring from 
their points are narrow and linear, and sometimes three 
or four feet in length. The flower-stalk comes out at 
the base of the bulb on one side, shoots up three or four 
feet, and is crowned by a raceme of pearly white waxen 
flowers, nearly circular in form, and an inch or two in 
diameter; within this fitting shrine "hovers the image 
of the snowy dove." 

It is not strange that in the lands of superstition and 
idol-worship, where this beautiful and wonderful speci- 
men is found, it should be regarded with reverential 
admiration. I think I should look on such a flower with 
a certain tender awe accorded to no other floral favorite. 
The Tillandsia-usneoides, or what is called the long- 
moss of the Southern States, hanging in gray festoons 
and streamers from pines and oaks, and filling the 
sombre forests with its swaying gloom, is no moss at all, 
but an air-plant, gloomy-looking it is true, but curious 
and interesting, and presenting a very striking contrast 
to its gayly glancing sisters of the same family. A 
friend sent us a tangle of this long-moss from the South, 
and we twisted it among the crevices in the trunk of an 
aged tree, where it remained securely anchored, bathed 
in the sunshine and the shower, and one day a visitor 
who had travelled far and wide came in greatly sur- 
prised, and told us that to his amazement he had found 
Spanish moss, (as he called it, and which is the same 
thing) growing upon one of the trees behind the house. 
A smile which could not be suppressed stole over some 
of the faces, which induced the traveller to put a few 
questions, and the mystery was solved, otherwise he 
might have stated to some scientific society that Spanish 
moss grew within a few miles of New York. In Buenos 



AMONG THE TREES. 115 

Ayres, the fragrant Tillandsia-xiphioides grows upon the 
wood-work of the balconies of houses, perfuming the air 
to a distance around ; and the forests and islands of 
tropical Asia, Africa, and America, abound in species 
of fantastic growth, wonderful beauty, and delicious 
sweetness. In Java alone, more than three hundred 
varieties have been found. 

To induce these splendid foreigners to thrive in our 
less genial clime, we should give them, as far as possible, 
the surroundings which they choose for themselves in 
their own luxuriant homes. They can bear great warmth 
if accompanied with enough moisture, and moisture 
they must have ; they prefer a reflected and somewhat 
shaded light to the strong glare of direct sunshine; they 
require a position where the water will run off from the 
roots, and yet the moisture be retained, and for this pur- 
pose, finely chopped moss upon the piece of wood to 
which they cling is desirable ; they detest any impurities, 
and stagnant water is death to them. A glass case 
sufficiently spacious would seem to combine all the 
requisites; as a high temperature can be combined with 
great humidity, strong sunshine can be mitigated at 
pleasure, an entire freedom from dust and insects can be 
secured, and a nicety of detail obtained in all particulars, 
suiting the ethereal tastes of these fastidious and elegant 
denizens of air. Of the lichens which adorn the old 
tree trunks, and stones, and fences, I have written you 
before, but hardly realized that these simple and often 
unnoticed plants, had any relation to those gorgeous 
blossoms which are the pride and wonder of the green- 
house. They are air-plants, however, just as much as 
those "far-fetched and dear-bought" treasures from 
foreign lands. 



116 



AMONG THE TREES. 



FLOWERS OF AUGUST. 



CLASS. 


ORDER. 


GENUS. SPECIES. 


COMMON NAME. 


1. 


17. Droseracese. 


Drosera- filiformis. 


Thread-leaved 
sundew. 






18. Parnassiaceae. 


Parnassia-Caroliniana. 


Flower of Parnassus. 






37. Polygalaceae. 


Polygala-san guinea. 
Polygala-cruciata. 


Purple polygala. 
Rose- colored polygala 






38. Leguminosae. 


Lathyrus-maritimus. 

Phaseolus-perennis. 
Apios-tuberosa. 


Reach pea. 

Wild purple bean. 

Fragrant glycine. 






K 


Galactia-glabella. 

Amphicarpaea-monoica. 

Cassia-nictitans. 


Purple pea. 

Pea-nut. 

Wild sensitive plant. 






39. Rosacea?. 


Sanguisorba-Canadensis. 


Burnet. 






43. Onagraceae. 


Epilobiura-lineare. 


Narrow epilobium. 






59. Compositae. 


Vernon ia-Noveboracensis. 

Liatris-scariosa. 

Eupatorium-purpureum. 

Aster-m acrophy llus. 

Aster-Radula. 

Aster-undulatus. 

Aster-Tradescanti. 

Aster-acumunatus. 

Solidago-squarossa. 

Solidago-bicolor. 

Solidago-puberula. 


Purple iron weed. 
Gay-feather. 
Trumpet- weed. 
White aster. 
Violet aster. 
Blue aster. 
Purplish aster. 
Purple and white 

aster. 
Golden-rod. 
Golden-rod. 
Golden-rod. 






u 


Solidago-rigida. 
Solidago-odora. 
Helianthus-divaricatus. 
Achillea-uiillefolium. 


Golden-rod. 
Sweet golden-rod. 
Sunflower. 
Yarrow. 






u 


Gnaphalium-polycephalum. 
Antennaria-margaritacea. 


Everlasting. 
Pearly everlasting. 






60. Lobeliaceae. 


Lobelia-spicata. 


Pale blue lobelia. 






69. Plunibaginaceae. 


Statice-Caroliniana. 


Sea lavender. 






71. Scrophulariaceae. 


Linaria-vulgaris. 
Gerardia-maritima. 
Gerardia- tenui folia. 
Gerardia-flava. 


Butter and eggs. 
Sea-side gerardia. 
Slender gerardia. 
Downy gerardia. 






u 


Gerardia-quercifolia. 


Smooth gerardia. 






83. Gentianacese. 

u 


Gentiana-quinquefolia. 
Bartonia-tenella. 


Five-flowered gentia 
White bax-tonia. 






tc 


Sagittaria-variabilis. 
Goodyera-repens. 


Arrow-head. 
Rattlesnake orchis. 






u 


Spiranthes-cernua. 


Fragrant ladies' 
tresses. 



AMONG THE TREES. 117 

September 27. 
Since I wrote you, we have been staying with friends 
in a charming New England village, where the nice, 
comfortable, and in many instances, elegant residences, 
are built at varying distances along the rural, irregular 
street, for one or two miles. Overhung with fine trees, 
— elm, maple, and linden, with now and then the pen- 
sive droop of a willow, — this old street is beautiful and 
picturesque at all times, and somehow everything that 
passes along partakes of the same character. The great 
loads of hay touched by the down-drooping branches ; 
the tasteful turn-outs of wealthy inhabitants, the gay 
picnic parties, the ladies on horseback, the vehicles of 
every description, the every-day walkers along ; every- 
thing, whether great or small, is seen through cathedral- 
like arches, and puts on that peculiar aspect which makes 
you say, " It looks just like a picture." The windows 
overlooking the western hills and vales, give charming 
groupings of trees in all directions; clumps of graceful 
elms, masses of thick-boughed maples and chestnuts, 
here and there the majestic individuality of a towering 
hickory, or the light shaft of a poplar, while the broken 
hills in the distance, with mists and cloud shadows, 
present a beautiful and continual picture. One morning 
there was a wedding in the village ; a young lady, living 
in one of the finest old residences, was married, and on 
that day the beautiful town wore its fairest aspect. The 
bride lived near the southern extremity of the long 
street, and we had the opportunity of seeing the wed- 
ding guests wending their way on this most glorious 
midsummer morning. The carriages of those who rode 
glanced in the mellow light, and far more picturesque 
than these, ladies in light and graceful dresses, with no 



118 AMONG THE TREES. 

bonnets, and with roses in their hair, with parasols and 
floating scarfs and ribbons, walked with attending cava- 
liers in the cool shadows of the heavy foliage. " Peace 
charmed the earth beneath their feet," and we could but 
wish that the bride, in that far western home to which 
she was going, might find something as beautiful as the 
home she was leaving. 

This village lies in a wide spreading valley, surrounded 
on all ^ides by bold hills. Its natural situation is beau- 
tiful, but half its charm is owing to the good taste which 
has spared and protected the noble trees which so adorn 
it. We went one day with a picnic party to the top of 
one of the highest mountains, where was a stone tower, 
and from the summit of this, the view was delightful 
over a lovely country for miles and miles. Just below 
this tower lies a beautiful little lake, shut in by high 
rocks and hills, where the summer sky and the cliffs and 
headlands were so wonderfully mirrored, that they looked 
even more distinct within than without. Here we found 
a pretty little water-plant, with smooth, heart-shaped 
leaves, upon which rested clusters of delicate little white 
dowers, which bore the romantic name of floating-heart, 
or Limnanthvs-lucanosum, botanically. 

Upon the borders of the lake, the sweet-scented Clethra 
grew in profusion, filling the air with fragrance, and the 
downy racemes of pretty white blossoms reaching so far 
over the water as to be easily picked as we sailed along. 
We found pink yarrow, also, which is very pretty, though 
some of our party considered it a poor-looking weed. 
The more one cultivates friendly relations with the 
plants that grow on hill or dale, the fewer will be the 
" poor-looking weeds " which he will pass by with con- 
tempt. 



AMONG THE TREES. 



119 



While we were in this place, a little boy belonging to 
the family where we were staying, came in one day 
from a forest ramble with something which his young 
eye perceived was a rarity. It was the very walking- 




fern for which we had so vainly hunted, and as we ex- 
pressed gratification, our young friend said he would get 

us a hundred if we wanted them. 

September 30. 

From this village we went still further east, until we 
found ourselves in a hospitable mansion which overlooks 
the glorious ocean. Here, at the base of a rocky cliff a 
short distance from the house, dashes forever the myste- 



120 AMONG THE TREES. 

rious sea, about which so much has been said and sung, 
but whose mysteries yet remain as exhaustless as its 
own depths. That low ocean roar forever sounding, 
how it awes and enchains the spirit ; as I listened in the 
night, it came surging on and on, every wave sounding 
nearer, until I had resolutely to shake down my rising 
terror, and realize that it was impossible for the next 
boom to come sweeping over the top of the house. 
Here from the chamber windows before you rise in the 
morning, you can see " the stately ships go by," and all 
night the wondrous eyes of the light-houses are keeping 
watch for the homeward bound mariner. How wonder- 
fully interesting to us were all these ocean arrangements ; 
how we watched the light-houses at night, the revolving- 
one particularly ; and how strange and perilous seems 
the life of a sailor when one gazes into these solemn 
ocean depths, and contrasts their treacherous flow with 
the good, old, solid earth. 

How we marveled as we strolled at twilight beside 
the "sad sea waves,' 1 that any one could be courageous 
enough to "go to sea," though we think that living in a 
light-house must have a dash of the sublime in it. A 
young daughter of a light-house keeper told us how her 
father had to watch his lights all night; the darker and 
stormier the night, the more vigilant he must be. It is 
poetry after all that throws such an enchantment over all 
seafaring things ; " The fisher is out on the sunny sea ; " 
how captivating! but let him come in to clean the fish, 
and the fastidious singer of ocean songs feels no inclina- 
tion to pursue the investigations. But there is poetry, 
and romance, and happiness (or there was to us) on the 
silvery sands of Massachusetts Bay, and among the 
grand old rocks that guard the coast, seamed and chan- 



AMONG THE TREES. 121 

neled, as they are by the bufferings and caressings of 
the capricious waters. We gathered sea-weeds for press- 
ing, — those delectable sea-weeds we so much admire. 
I shall keep a quantity till you come, and then we will 
arrange them, for they will come out as fair as ever after 
being dried for months if placed in water. I have a 
great bunch in safe keeping, though, as a lady remarked, 
'•they look like horrid trash;" yet within them is en- 
shrined the very essence of enchantment, the delicate 
grace, the lovely coloring, the odor of ocean. One day 
I was at my accustomed employment, choosing with 
intense interest from the wet heaps thrown upon the 
beach, "the fairest I could see," when a laborer, who 
was filling a cart with the coarse sea-weeds, came up to 
me and said, "Would you like a few feathers, Miss?" 
I had not any idea what feathers were thus surrounded, 
but with an intuition that they were something to be 
desired, I replied, " O yes, I should like them very much." 
He thrust his hands into his old pea-jacket pockets, and 
drawing out the feathers, added them to my treasures; 
they were the most delicate and fairy-like of sea-weeds, 
a sort of gossamer, feathery plume a few inches long, of 
a soft, silvery gray and glistening all over with diamond- 
like sparkles. I was enchanted with their graceful 
beauty, and thanked the sea-dashed giver, who informed 
me that he always picked " them shiny ones out to give to 
ladies, — they thought so much of ; em." And the ladies 
with whom we were staying, told us that these feathers 
were rare and greatly prized by sea-weed hunters, so I 
shall value them as they deserve, and hold in kind re- 
membrance that rough laborer upon whom the romance 
of the sea had so much power as to induce him to select 
from his rude cart-loads these airy-looking little things 



122 AMONG THE TREES. 

to " give to ladies." We hoped there would be a rous- 
ing storm during our sea-side visit, to make the waves 
dash mountains high, but the sea was calm as summer 
mornings all the time we stayed. Then we hoped we 
might see what the ladies often did see through spy- 
glasses, — one of the gentleman's ships " come sailing up 
to the strand," and know it far out at sea by the signals, 
before he knew anything about it himself; but we 
watched for them in vain, though three were daily ex- 
pected. Then we tried in vain to count three hundred 
sail in sight, which they often do from the piazza; never 
more than forty or fifty, and at one time sixty, would 
obey our spell. Then we looked for whales, with not 
very good success, though they are frequent visitors. 
One day one of the ladies threw down the spy-glass 
through which she was looking, with an exclamation of 
terror, which was succeeded by a hearty laugh when she 
said she thought a whale was spouting close beside her, 
so near did the glass seem to bring him. Neither would 
the sea-serpent come at our call, though Helen and I 
took observations for him whenever we had possession 
of the glasses, because there was a rumor that some 
fishermen in the vicinity had seen recently what they 
" took to be " this bewildering individual. But we 
found enjoyment enough without these extras, and a 
sea-beach, with its grand old rocks washed by the At- 
lantic Ocean, is surely enough to satisfy. 

Within doors, the gentleman has, in a room arranged 
for them, a large collection of African birds of rare 
species and brilliant plumage. One kind which they 
call the celestials, of a delicate sky-blue, with touchings 
of soft gray, are perfectly bewitching. These little 
creatures will seize in their beaks slender straws, which 



AMONG THE TREES. 123 

are put into their cages, and begin dancing up and down 
with a regular and harmonious movement, singing a 
sweet and peculiar note which they never sing at any 
other time and which the family recognize as the "dan- 
cing tune," whenever they hear it. This dancing comes 
natural, as they have never been taught. Some of the 
other small birds often imitate them, and succeed very 
well, though the palm of fairy-like grace must be 
awarded to the celestials. Then there were the beau- 
tiful cardinal, or whydar birds, with glossy plumage, 
long, sweeping tails, and brilliant scarlet around the 
throat. Another bird was of most vivid emerald green, 
with little blocks of black and white around the neck, 
and a most demure phiz above it; this bird is quite large 
and in a cage by himself; he never sings, and wears a 
solemn and demure and somewhat melancholy expres- 
sion, and you would infer instantly, on looking at him, 
that he did not approve of dancing, but no sooner do 
the merry little celestials strike up their dancing tunes, 
than he begins to creep up the side of his cage in a most 
peculiar style, with fantastic twirls, till he reaches the 
wires at the very top, when he will twist himself about 
and bend his grave visage over as far as possible, to look 
at them, uttering at intervals a low chuckle which sounds 
like a laugh, and he evidently enjoys what is going on. 

Then the gentleman took us in town, and we went with 
him to his wharves and his warehouses, and saw his 
ships tossing on the deep, which were to sail away to 
that mysterious and wondrous Africa, and come back 
laden with gums, and spices, and rare woods, and ivory, 
and gold-dust. In a room in one of his warehouses 
were piled the elephants' tusks, and I must say I was 
disappointed in these ; I expected to see them white as 



124 



AMONG THE TREES. 



ivory paper-cutters, or any pretty ivory articles, bat they 
were a dingy brown, and as unsightly a heap as one 
would wish to see ; but the white is in them, to be 
evoked at the right time, and there is something besides 
white in them, for the clerk told us the value of some 
of them, which touched a point that sounded incred- 
ible to ears uninstructed in such lore. 

On the morning of the day we left, we were called in 
season to go upon the balcony and see " the crimson 
streak on ocean's cheek, grow into the great sun ;" and 
with this glorious picture freshly painted on memory, 
we bade farewell to the kind friends, the pleasant 
mansion, the varied scenery of land and wave, the calm 
majesty of Massachusetts Bay sparkling in the morning 
sun, and with glancing white sails enough, just then, we 
verily believed, to make three hundred if we could only 
have stopped to count them. 




AMONG THE TREES. 
FLOWERS OF SEPTEMBER. 



125 



CLASS. 


ORDER. 


GENUS. SPECIES. 


COMMON NAME. 


1. 


12. Cruciferae. 


Cakile-Americana. 


Sea rocket. 






23. Malvaceae. 


Althea-officinalis. 
Hibiscus-moscheutos. 


Marsh mallow. 
Swamp mallow. 






59. Composite. 


Eupatorium-sessilifolium. 
Aster-spectabilis. 


Boneset. 
Violet-blue aster. 






K 

a 


Aster -lae vis. 

Aster-cordifolius. 

Aster-sagittifolius. 

Aster-ericoides. 

Aster-multiflorus. 

Aster-dumosus. 

Aster-simplex. 


Sky-blue aster. 
Pale-blue aster. 
Pointed-leaved aster. 
White aster. 
Pale purple aster. 
Bluish aster. 
Light-blue aster. 






a 


Aster-tenuifolius. 


Purple aster. 






a 


Aster-Novae-Angliae. 


Rose-purple aster. 






u 


Solidago-latifolia. 

Solidago-virgata. 
Solidago-patula. 
Solidago-linoides. 


Golden-rod. 
Golden-rod. 
Golden-rod. 
Golden -rod. 






u 
u 
u 


Solidago-n em oralis. 
Solidago-lanceolata. 
Cbryopsis - falcata. 
Iva-ciliata. 


Golden-rod. 
Golden-rod. 
Golden aster. 
Marsh elder. 






u 


Leontodon-autumnale. 


Autumn dandelion.. 






71. Lentibulacese. 


Utricularia-purpurea. 


Violet-purple 
bladderwort. 






74. Scrophulariaceae. 

u 


Chelone-glabra. 
Mimulus-ringens. 


Shell flower. 
Monkey flower. 






76. Verbenaceae. 


Verbena-bastata. 


Blue vervain. 






77. Labiatae. 


Ballota-nigra. 


Black hoar hound. 






83. Gentianaceae. 


Gentiana-crinita. 

Gentiana-Andrewsii. 

Limnantbemum-lacunosum 


Fringed gentian. 
Closed gentian. 
Floating heart. 



October 5. 

While we have been in New England, we have missed 
the late summer flowers that may be found here; but 
there are not many flowers in September and October to 
interest such superficial botanists as we are, so carried 
away by external charms. Late in the summer, the 
Composite Family brings out all its children who stream 



126 AMONG THE TREES. 

in gay groups along the hedges and highways, and we 
have seen troops and troops of showy asters, and all the 
varieties of golden-rod ; and though we shrink from im- 
bricated calyces, and disks, and rays, and florets, yet our 
autumnal rides and walks were beautified by rich masses 
of purple of every shade, mingled with sprays of droop- 
ing white and racemes of brilliant yellow ; and such is 
the harmonious coloring of these autumnal composites, 
that if one will leave them for gigantic out-of-doors 
bouquets, the effect is charming, but brought home to 
figure in some delicate vase, they look coarse and out of 
place. The tender grace of an exquisite little poem, 
however, has invested with a poetic charm, the — 

" Golden-rod, and the aster in the wood, 
And the yellow sunflower by the brook." 

The sunflower certainly does not look poetical, but 
there must be a depth of sentiment enshrined within it, 
for those staring yellow eyes look west at eve, and east 
at morn, and follow their worshipped sun all the day. 
But the glory of the autumnal months are the cardinal 
flower and the fringed gentian. No words can do 
justice to the carmine crimson of the cardinal flower, so 
brilliant as it is and showing so far off. And the en- 
chanting blue of the gentian, who can paint it? We 
have tried, but alas, we cannot put the sunshine on, and 
that it must have to be perfect ; for its perfection is at the 
midday hour of a gorgeous October day, when it spreads 
its cruciform fringed petals in the glowing sunshine. In 
a pretty village in Connecticut where we were staying, 
this beautiful fringed gentian grew in the greatest pro- 
fusion along the roadsides and the woodland pathways. 

Another gentian we also found of a fine blue, with 
clusters of bright rounded buds, looking from day to 



AMONG THE TREES. 127 

day just ready to open, but we waited for that in vain; 
they never opened and never will, they were closed 
gentians ( Gentiana- Andrew six). 

This secluded village among the Connecticut hills, 
two or three miles from the railroad station, gave us 
several rare and beautiful flowers. There we found the 
Rhexia-Virginica, or meadow-beauty, by the margin of 
a pretty picnic pond It is a gay, showy plant, with 
blossoms of rosy purple, and golden, cross-shaped yellow 
anthers, streaked with purple, and the tube of the calyx 
swelling into a perfect little urn. 

The flower of Parnassus we also found, named by 
Dioscorides, who found it growing on Mount Parnassus 
in his day ; it is very pretty and peculiar, the large white 
petals being veined with delicate green lines. The 
painted cup was another rarity, the floral leaves being 
of the brightest scarlet. The charming Orchis tribe we 
also examined quite extensively. The Ciliaris, or yel- 
low-fringed orchis, is rare and lovely, with bright orange 
colored flowers ; the Dilitata has white blossoms ; and the 
most beautiful of all is the fringed and fragrant purple 
orchis, which is a superb flower. The wild lilies are, 
many of them, showy and graceful, and one of delicate 
straw color, with a profusion of blossoms, was particu- 
larly elegant. The Epilobium, or willow-herb, was very 
abundant, covering some newly cleared fields with clouds 
of soft purple bloom. 

But O, how trying we found it as we left these quiet 
villages, to be whirled along in the remorseless cars, 
seeing every minute, far down in the sheltered nooks, the 
flash of the fiery cardinal flower, or a rich tint of blue, 
or of yellow, and seeing in the recesses of the woods — 



128 



AMONG THE TREES. 




Parnassia-Carol'niana. 



AMONG THE TREES. 129 

alas, we know not what we see, and never will know ! — 
but such delectable things, such new flowers, as we take 
them to be, which it is agonizing to leave; but the con- 
ductor does not appear to see them, neither do the pas- 
sengers, and if they did, we doubt if they would be 
willing to have the train stopped in order to secure the 
treasures. For my own part, I wish the trains would 
stop in the woods, instead of at those dusty and tedious 
and disagreeable depots. 

Since our return we have been serenaded beyond 
measure by the katydids, and unless you heard them, 
you would not believe they could make such a clatter. 
To all the questionings of " Tell us now what Katy did ; 
pray what did Katy do ?" there comes forever the same 
old dogged reply, " Katy did" and " Katy didn't." One 
evening we were sitting on the piazza, and they made 
such a din that we could not hear ourselves speak ; they 
seemed to have concentrated all their forces in three or 
four trees on the lawn directly in front of the house. A 
visitor inquired if we knew how to silence them, and as 
we did not, he requested Isabella, Helen, and me, to 
follow him, in perfect silence, each one taking a stand 
under a tree. He then told us to wait quietly until they 
were in full blast, then gently touch the trunk of the tree 
with the tip of the finger, or the point of a pencil, or the 
point of a pin even ; we did so, and in an instant all the 
clamor ceased, the most profound silence succeeding. 

After awhile they began again, but with what seemed 
to us an awe-stricken faintness of tone, and at any time, 
the very lightest touch upon the tree-trunk would pro- 
duce perfect silence. The party left upon the piazza, 
and who were rather incredulous as to our power over 
these clamoring myriads, said it seemed more like witch- 



130 



AMONG THE TREES. 



work than anything else. We could not account for 
this singular effect, neither could our visitor, to whom we 
naturally appealed for an explanation. He said he was 
told so at some place where he was staying, that he had 
often proved its truth and seen others try it with the 
same success, bat that was all he knew about it. 




1 hope you have not outgrown the early admiration 
for four-leaved clovers, which we felt in the country in 
past summers, nor the girlish delight in seeing one start 



AMONG THE TREES. 131 

up suddenly, as it were, before your eyes, so plain to be 
seen when it is seen, and so persistently invisible when 
it is not; appearing when not looked for, refusing to be 
found if searched for. Aunt Emily says the taste for 
these delights of childhood will never die out with her; 
the other day when sitting on the piazza taiking with 
visitors, she excused herself a moment, and went down 
the steps to pick one which she saw in the grass, saying, 
as she came back, that she should always be a child so 
far as four-leaved clovers were concerned ; and one of the 
ladies said that four-leaved cloverism was inborn, she 
thought, while a gentleman of the party, dignified and 
erudite, who might be supposed to be insensible to such 
trifles, said that he always felt pleased when he found a 
four-leaved clover, and he was reminded of a little inci- 
dent which occurred at his house in the country. A 
friend, a lady who was oppressed with cares, anxieties, 
and sorrows, respecting which she had come to consult 
him, and who was talking with him with seriousness and 
solicitude, suddenly exclaimed, as she glanced from the 
window at which she was seated, " O, I see a four-leaved 
clover," and away she went to pick it, returning with a 
glow of girlish cheerfulness chasing for the moment the 
sorrowful lines of care. 

Well, I was going to say, before being betrayed into 
telling this little story, that this is the place for these 
mysterious whisperers of something, we know not exactly 
what, but something charming. Sarah, the cook, who 
believes in signs, says it is a "sign of good luck ;" but 
Aunt Emily says she is afraid that is a mistake, for she 
seldom steps out-of-doors without finding one or more, 
and she cannot discover that she is particularly favored 
in the article of good luck. The other day I pulled up 



132 



AMONG THE TREES. 



a whole bunch of clovers in a soft place, and all but one 
bore the mystic number. What great good luck is 
coming to me ? 




October 20. 

Can you guess this conundrum, " When is the best 
time to study the book of Nature?" You would find 
the answer around here now : it is " When autumn turns 
the leaves." 

The autumnal tints are making the woods look like a 
giant's flower garden, or like an army arrayed in scarlet 
and gold, and hanging out gay banners to the very 
mountain top. Sombre hemlocks and pines bring out 



AMONG THE TREES. 133 

the gayly tinted foliage so artistically, that the groups 
seem as if arranged by a skillful hand, and there can be 
no doubt as to the skillfulness of the hand, since Nature 
herself — 

''Mixes the gorgeous autumn dyes, 

And paints the woods about; 

With green the scarlet underlies, 

To bring the brightness out." 

We are now deep in colored leaves, and the fancy of 
the present hour is for bright coronets, and wreaths, and 
crosses, and crimson shadings, and " rich mosaics of 
olive, and gold, and brown." Father says he cannot 
open a book without the out-tumbling of radiant beau- 
ties, which are too wonderful to be thrown away, and 
yet so abundant that all the books in the house could 
not contain them. 

The big dictionaries, somewhat the worse for wear, 
are considered lawful plunder in the way ot a pressing 
apparatus, but unfortunately these are in frequent de- 
mand, and alas, alas, who can tell how many of our 
tinted treasures are swept away to nameless graves ! 
We are aware of some of our losses, however, for 
Isabella will say, " Now, where is that beauty that had 
streaks of crimson fading into purple? I am sure that I 
put it in this book: Father, have you seen it?" And 
Helen will say, " Dear me, I cannot find that wonderful 
leaf, little blocks of green, and yellow, and black, and 
white, a perfect mosaic. Father, I saw your friend from 
the city reading in this very book yesterday ; do you 
suppose he took it?" And I say, " O, those lavender- 
tinted leaves tipped with scarlet. Father, did not you 
see them when you opened that great book?" Poor 
Father has to stand these daily questionings, but seems 



134 AMONG THE TREES. 

very tranquil under our losses, even saying that every 
loss of this kind is a gain, as it makes room for another 
in its place. 

We are consulting authorities and learning, in a gen- 
eral way, what colors the different trees select for autum- 
nal dresses. 

In the latter part of September the trees begin to 
exchange their greenness for other tints, and these in- 
crease in intensity through the early part of October. 
Brown, olive, yellow, red, crimson, scarlet, and all the 
betweenities of all these colors, giving shades and tinges 
more than can be specified. And this coloring of the 
leaf is not the effect of frost, as many trees are colored 
before the frost touches them ; neither is it decay, for 
the leaves of brightest colors are as perfect, clear, and 
fresh as the leaves of summer. It is the full and 
beautiful ripening of tint which precedes the wintry 
touch. And here let me say that there is no going 
beyond Nature in gorgeousness of tints, or variety, or 
wonderfulness of combination, and those who paint 
autumn leaves need not think they have approached any- 
where near Nature, for they have no paints to equal 
hers. To return to the colors in which trees choose to 
array themselves. Walnut-trees take shades of brown 
and yellow; maples, the darling maples, scarlet, crimson, 
orange, and all shades of all these colors, from the dark- 
est maroon to the softest rose-tint. Gum-trees (Liquid- 
ambar) are peculiarly splendid, having pure crimson 
leaves, dark in the centre and shaded off to the lightest 
tint, or vivid scarlet curiously mottled with faint lav- 
ender and spots of silvery gray. The dogwood ( Cornus- 
florida) takes shades of dark crimson and brown, with 
tender tints of pinkish purple and ashes of roses. Elms 



AMONG THE TREES. 135 

become bright yellow, often lemon-yellow that is very 
noticeable. Birch and beech appear in sober yellow 
ochre; ash, linden, and oak, in shades of brown, though 
one species of oak is scarlet. The beeches retain their 
greenness longer than most others ; they with the Conif- 
erae, or needle -leaved trees, help to bring out their bril- 
liant sisters, and after a while, when all are arrayed in 
fancy dresses, the beech exchanges its beautiful verdure 
for a dingy drapery of yellowish brown. It really seems 
as if the stately monarchs of the woods, and the graceful 
queens of forest society, with a prevision of the swift- 
coming disrobing days, were determined to meet destiny 
undismayed, and in one grand autumnal masquerade to 
bid farewell to vernal robes with the best grace possible. 
But the faithful evergreen family are never seduced from 
their integrity; no masquerading of next door neighbors 
can persuade them to mingle gay tints with the severity 
of their sombre robes; only in the gala days of spring 
and summer, a charming binding of lighter green creeps 
round the edges of the hemlock boughs, and a softer 
shade comes over the whole family, but the color is the 
same, — evergreen always. Only the larches change their 
color, the delicate, elegant larches, and they, though 
needle-leaved, are not evergreen trees. How exquisite 
are their pyramids of fairy-like verdure in summer with 
the beautiful dark cones ; and late in the autumn, after 
all the brilliant tinting is lost and gone forever, the 
larches come out in soft buff yellow robes, arresting the 
eye amidst the leafless branches around them. The 
graceful woodbine is twining the brightest scarfs around 
the old trees in the meadows, and too often the gayest 
scarlet sprays flaunt defiantly just out of reach. And 
now I will close this long discourse about autumn colors 



136 AMONG THE TREES. 

by quoting a few lines written by one of Father's sis- 
ters, who died many years ago, and whom we never saw. 
They were written one October morning upon one of 
those maple-trees which stretched over the gateway of 
the old New England home : — 

" Last eve that tree in greenness stood before us. 
And every leaf in vivid verdure shone : 
But when the night a mantle dark threw o'er us, 

Autumn's bright pencil put fresh colors on: 
And in the place of summer's simple green, 
Red, yellow, orange, in bright glare are seen. 
Thus Nature shows us that a simple dress 
Is best becoming spring-time loveliness; 
For not till hues of youth begin to fade 
Are brighter colors on the foliage laid." 

October 28. 

And now a little more about those enchanting sea- 
weeds, w 7 hich come to our shores from distant lands, — 
from the glowing tropics with colors ripened in the sun, 
from the Gulf Stream, from Indian seas, from the Azores, 
and the " vexed Bermoothes," from Iceland and the 
Faroe Isles, from the misty Orkneys and Hebrides, and 

" Thy wild and stormy steep, 
Elsinore." 

The botanical name of sea-weeds is Alofss, and natu- 
ralists have endeavored to classify and arrange them, 
but the arrangement is yet quite imperfect. There is 
great variety of form, size, and structure. Some are 
mere minute particles, becoming visible to the naked eye 
only when collected in heaps ; others are strong and 
branching plants; some grow on rocks in shallow water ; 
some in the beds of the ocean, and becoming dislodged, 
rise in such formidable masses as to impede the course 
of ships. These plants are arranged by Professor Har- 
vey into three sub-classes, called Melanospermece, Rhodo- 



AMONG THE TREES. 137 

spermece, and Chlorospermece. The first are marine plants 
of an olive-green, or brown color; the second are also 
mostly marine plants of rosy red, or purple tints; the 
third are marine, and also fresh water plants of a green 
color. The plants of the second class are the beauties 
of the family, distinguished by leafy fronds and brilliant 
colors; they bring a thrill of delight to the sea-weed 
seeker on ocean beaches, and are extracted with the 
tenderest care, from sometimes the most disagreeable 
surroundings. Many of the sea-weeds are of the finest 
and most delicate texture; the base of the stem forms a 
dense, shield-like root, and the tops often expand into 
a broad, foliaccous crown. They adhere with great 
tenacity to the rocks on which they grow, resisting the 
sway of the uneasy element to which they are con- 
stantly exposed ; their growth is very rapid, a few months 
covering large spaces with these marine forests. In the 
genus Laminariaceae, the species Esculenta grows to the 
length of twenty feet, and forms a part of the simple 
food of the peasants of Iceland, Scotland, Denmark, 
and other northern countries. The Saccharina, or sugar- 
belt, is eaten by the Icelanders, and is considered a great 
luxury in Japan. The Digitata is' cried around the 
streets of Edinburgh as "tangle." The well-known 
Carrigeen Moss ( Chondus-crispus) belongs to the Algae. 
The Dulse, when roasted, has the flavor of roasted oys- 
ters ; and from the Gelidium comes the substance collected 
by swallows for constructing the famous " birds'-nests," 
which are considered such luxuries in China and Java. 

Among the Algae were first observed those functions, 
which had been supposed to belong only to animals. It 
was found that some of these plants had a distinct 
power of self-movement, so that this power would no 



138 AMONG THE TREES. 

longer serve to distinguish between animal and vegetable 
organization. The globe-animalcule ( Volvox-globator), 
which possesses the most active powers of motion, has 
been shown to be undoubtedly a plant, and many others 
of a similar structure have been transferred from the 
animal to the vegetable kingdom. The Smithsonian 
Institute has published a volume upon Algae, or sea- 
weeds, by which they may be studied and understood. 
It is by Professor Harvey, and is called, " Nereis-Boreali- 
Americana ; or, History of the Marine Algse of North 
America." 

November 1- 

While the beautiful summer lasted, we had troops and 
troops of floral friends. Their sunny faces greeted us in 
the grassy meadow, and they lured us on from lowland 
to highland, and confided to us, true lovers as they knew 
we were, their most secluded and hidden haunts. We 
knew well where to find the shy beauties who steal 
away from cultivated grounds, and open their glowing 
petals by the brink of mountain rills, or in the deep 
ravines and unfrequented forest paths. We sought on 
the remote and sheltered hill-sides the rare spring-orchis, 
the nodding trillium, and fragrant pyrola; and in the 
damp and secluded dells, the elegant purple oxalis, and 
adder's-tongue, and Arethusa, the white violets, and 
spring-beauties ; and by the brooks, the Sarracenia and 
the cardinal flower; and far away in the deeper woods 
the showy ladies'-slipper and fringed orchis of the later 
summer. W^e learned where grew the freshest mosses 
and the fairest ferns, and every forest ramble was tinged 
and tinted with that couleur de rose, and that purple 
light of love bestowed upon us by these woodland pets. 
But these darlings have folded themselves away from 



AMONG THE TREES. 



139 




140 AMONG THE TREES. 

these sterner gales, and though we know that through 
the coming winter months, we shall find much without 
to give a charm to the frequent stroll, we have also 
arranged much within that will give satisfaction. Our 
house-plants are beautiful, and we mean to add to them 
every available treasure. We are going to try all sorts 
of experiments with hyacinth bulbs, particularly that 
one with the two hyacinth glasses, out of one end of 
which is to come a white, and out of the other, a purple 
hyacinth. We have placed a sweet potato in a suitable 
vase, and expect to see that sprout and throw out leaves, 
and finally run over into a graceful vine with pretty 
flowers. Then we have lovely mosses covering dishes 
of sand, in which we can place bulbs and greenhouse 
flowers; and one shallow dish of silver sand, in which 
are crocus bulbs placed an inch or two apart, will be 
delightful soon. 

Then we have a " Plantation," a large, good-looking 
box, filled with the nicest earth, where we plant rare 
seeds, or slips, or anything with which we wish to ex- 
periment. All that survived of our Cuban plants were 
transferred to this box, and one of the beautiful flower- 
ing tamarinds is growing well. If it will but blossom, 
we shall be delighted, but if it will not, the leaves are as 
elegant as fern leaves. One little vine which grew from 
a seed from Colorado, has climbed to the top of one of 
the windows ; it has prettily cut leaves of most delicate 
green, and a profusion of little white flowers growing in 
bunches, quite pretty, and as we do not know what it is, 
and as no one who has seen it can tell us, it is particu- 
larly interesting. And this reminds me of a rarity that 
we found in New England. While walking one day 
over a terraced hill, leading from the garden of a friend's 



AMONG THE TREES. 



141 



house, we found, growing in the grass, a plant about 
twelve inches high, and with flowers that we had never 
seen before, not remarkably pretty, but entirely new. 
We tried to find them out but could not, and all the 
botanical knowledge of the region could throw no light 
on these strange little blossoms. A botanical teacher in 
a literary establishment in the town, was as much in the 
dark as any of us. So we put a spray in a letter lo 




J?Jpt A~ 



Father, who was in New York, and in due time he sent 
the somewhat imposing botanical description given him 
by a learned botanist: — " Epimedium-Alpinum. A na- 
tive of the mountains of Southern Europe. Natural 
Order, Berberidaceae. The nearest approach to Epime- 
dium-Alpinum in this country is the Vancouveria of 



142 AMONG THE TREES. 

Oregon and Washington territories." It seemed amaz- 
ing to find growing wild on Massachusetts hills a flower 
whose home was on the mountains of Southern Europe, 
but the matter became easy enough to understand when 
we learned that, some years ago, a gentleman lived on 
this place, who made many experiments with flowers, 
and often received seeds from abroad, which he used to 
plant in localities where he thought they might make 
themselves at home. 

NOVEMBKR 3. 

I must give you an additional dish of our favorite 
sea-weeds, for since I last wrote about them, I have had 
an opportunity to examine Professor Harvey's book upon 
American Algse, and must tell you something more of 
this interesting family. 

Among the Algae are found the simplest forms of 
plant life; they are found not only in water but upon 
land, where there is continued moisture. Many are so 
minute as to be almost invisible, yet when examined by 
the microscope, these nothings, as one may call them, 
are found to be beautiful in form, and exquisitely 
adorned with ornament. They are found in hot and 
cold springs, with temperaments suited to the different 
temperatures and chemical combinations of the waters 
they inhabit; they exist on mountain peaks and the 
snows of Arctic regions, and upon Polar ice is found an 
unfrozen vegetation of minute Algae, and not only in 
these localities, but, stranger still, in the air. A myste- 
rious shower of atmospheric dust of exceeding fineness 
often covers the decks and rigging of ships far out at 
sea, and incredible as it seems, this impalpable dust, 
when examined microscopically, is found to be com- 
posed of minute species of Algse. 



AMONG THE TREES. 143 

Some naturalists suppose that this dust is lifted by 
the winds from the surfaces of pools, or the dried beds 
of shallow lakes, and thus borne to great distances, but 
another and later theory is that it is developed in the air 
itself, nourished by cloud-moisture, and carried overland 
and sea by these aerial voyagers. 

But the Algse-ic forms with which we shall have most 
to do, are the beautiful structures which strew the sea- 
beaches, or grow in the little pools aud hollows of those 
battered old rocks in which we so delight. On a small 
island near Newport, where we spent a perfect day, the 
mighty rocks were scooped out, forming deep pools over 
which the waves dashed at every high tide, leaving them 
at low tide filled with clear water, and thickly lined with 
the most beautiful specimens of small marine plants ; 
not the sea-weeds for pressing, but thick, sturdy little 
plants, not half an inch high, so closely grouped that it 
looked like a velvet mosaic, and of such soft and bril- 
liant colors that the eye was charmed to behold them. 
This island was a great rock with hardly any vegetation 
upon it, and but one house, which was a hotel, but it 
was a most wild and captivating place, and we longed 
to stay there a month. The waves dash all around this 
lonely rock in grand style, and the ocean roars with a 
heavy boom sounding like cannon. You can hardly 
hear any one speak, but no one wishes to hear any one 
speak, or we did not : we sat on the rocks for hours, 
watching the great waves thundering on the cliffs and 
seeing New York gentlemen catch fish, for it is a favorite 
summer resort and a great place for fishing. I stood a 
few minutes directly behind a Wall Street broker, and 
he caught three sharks while I was looking at him ; he 
seemed very expert at the business of capturing these 



144 AMONG THE TREES. 

frightful looking creatures with their terrific mouths. 
But I am wandering from sea- weeds. As a general 
thing, they do not derive their nourishment through their 
roots, or from the substances on which they grow, but 
from the water surrounding them ; they will grow on 
rocks or shells, or the timbers of sunken ships, or upon 
metals or leather, or any substance beneath the waters 
which will afford them a foothold, and the firmly adher- 
ing root seems designed only to keep the plant fixed in 
its place. The root is ordinarily a simple disk, or expan- 
sion of the base of the stem, and when 1he plant is very 
large and requires more than one lioldfast, other disks 
are formed, sometimes a circle of them around the cen- 
tral one. The only instances mentioned of penetrating 
roots are in those plants which grow either on sandy 
shores, or amongst coral formations, into which the roots 
penetrate and branch in all directions; but even in these 
cases, they seem to be not sent out in quest of nourish- 
ment, but to give greater support to the plants. Three 
colors are predominant in sea-weeds : grass-green, olive- 
green, and red ; and in classifying them, much is trusted 
to color, though that is not an infallible guide. The 
Chlorosperms, or grass-green Algae, are found chiefly in 
fresh water, or the shallower parts of the sea, exposed 
to full sunshine but always covered with water ; while 
the Melanosperms, or olive-greens, are found where the 
ebbing and flowing tide alternatelv covers them with 
water, and leaves them exposed to the air. The Rhodo- 
sperms, or rose-red, are found in most vivid perfection in 
the deep and dark parts of the sea, shaded by projecting 
rocks or overgrowing sea-weeds. The beautiful irides- 
cence of many of these sea-weeds when beneath the 
water, is charming to behold ; in some species of Cyste- 



AMONG THE TREES. 145 

seica, which when out of water is a dull olive-brown, 
the branches, as they sway to and fro under water, put 
on the richest and most vivid metallic blues and greens, 
changing with every movement. Similar tints are seen 
on the Chondus-crispus (Irish moss) when growing in 
deep water, — the tips of the branches glittering like sap- 
phires and diamonds amidst dark purple leaves. The 
wonderful and beautiful red snow of the Polar regions, 
those " crimson cliffs" whose mysterious tintings have 
been noticed and wondered at by all the Arctic voyagers, 
are found to derive their brilliancy from most minute 
crimson plants of the Algae family. These atoms of 
plants belong to the Order Palmellaceae, the botanical 
name being Protococcus-nivalis. Every one of these 
little dots, as they seem, is a living plant of a carmine- 
red color, and flourishing in their snowy beds with a 
profusion that can hardly be imagined. Sir John Ross 
speaks of a range of cliffs in Baffin's Bay, eight miles 
long, covered with deep snow, which wore a brilliant red 
color from these little plants, which not only covered the 
surface, but extended down through the snow, in many 
places twelve feet, to the rocks beneath ; and Dr. Kane 
describes these cliffs as of a fine rose-red, and visible at 
a distance of ten miles. 

From the floating dust of the aerial Algae, and the 
minute beauty of the red snow-plant, let us glance at a 
few of the immensities. The Necrosystis-Lutkeana was 
discovered by Dr. Mertens on the northwest coast of 
America; when fully grown, the stem is more than three 
hundred feet long, bearing upon its upper end an im- 
mense air-vessel, six or seven feet long, and at the end 
of this grows a tuft of about fifty leaves, each leaf beini; 
from thirty to forty feet long. The sea-otters appro 
10 



146 AMONG THE TREES. 

priate these wonderful vehicles, reposing comfortably 
upon the air-pillows when wishing to make a journey 
of pleasure, and hiding in the thicket of leaves when on 
a fishing excursion. The Macrosystis-pyrifera is still 
more gigantic, the stems being estimated to be from 
seven hundred to a thousand feet long. Others have 
more breadth but less length, being marine trees growing 
with thick branches and broadly expanding top. Many 
are remarkable for size, or beauty of construction, or 
curious arrangement, and I could weary your patience 
with accounts of these water-plants. 

But we shall know a sight about the preparations for 
pressing sea-weeds, which we should not have known 
without Professor Harvey's hints. They should be 
rinsed in fresh water in the first place, to clear them from 
sand and impurities, then placed in shallow dishes of 
water to give them room to float and expand. A piece 
of white paper of the proper size is then slipped under 
the floating specimen, and it is lifted carefully out upon 
it. If any of the fine fibres are entangled or matted, a 
little water dropped upon them will detach them, and 
with a pointed instrument, a large pin or needle, the 
delicate branches can be properly arranged upon the 
paper. The white papers with the specimens upon 
them, should be laid on a sheet of blotting paper, and 
covered with soft muslin, placing the muslin directly 
upon the sea-weeds. Another sheet of blotting paper 
with specimens similarly arranged, may be laid upon 
thi*, and so on as many as you choose. The parcel 
must then be placed between flat boards, and subjected 
to a moderate pressure ; they should be examined after 
several hours, and dry coverings and papers should be 
placed upon very large specimens. 



AMONG THE TREES. 147 

In fine weather many of the delicate ones will be 
perfectly dry in forty-eight hours. Care must be taken 
in the use of fresh water, and the sea-weed presser must 
notice the effect of this ; to some of the sea-weeds it is a 
strong poison, rapidly decomposing the delicate tissues, 
but when applied to others, it increases the brilliancy of 
coloring. The reds are generally rendered brighter and 
more clear. Some dull browns come out a brilliant 
crimson. The tendency of some sea-weeds to become 
brown or black in drying, may often be lessened by 
steeping them in fresh water for an hour or two before 
drying. Hot water changes the color of all Algae to 
green, and if heat be applied during the drying process, 
an artificial green may be imparted to the specimens, — a 
mode of preparation, as Professor Harvey justly remarks, 
which could never be resorted to by botanical collectors, 
although it may be excused in the mere makers of sea- 
weed pictures ; and though it is very evident that these 
mere makers of sea-weed pictures must rank lower in 
the intellectual scale than the botanical collectors, I see 
that we shall be of the number, for I know that we shall 
improve the first opportunity to make our sea-weeds as 
bright a red as fresh water steeping can give them, and 
as vivid a green as hot water can bestow. 

NOVEMBKK 7. 

I am glad that you are so much interested in ferns 
and mosses, as to wish to know all that we know about 
them. We delight in ferns, and intend to study them 
faithfully. They have the enduring faithfulness of the 
sombre evergreen family, with the light, feathery droop 
of their own graceful organization. We learned to love 
the ferns when we first came here ; they welcomed us to 



148 AMONG THE TREES. 

our winter home with the unexpected tint of vernal 
months ; their elegant, plumy foliage clothed the shel- 
tered banks, which slope to the mountain streams, with 
a carpet of living verdure all winter. They extend also 
to the mountain tops, and some which grow high up 
amidst the broken rocks have a delicate beauty which 
looks ill-adapted to battling with the winter storms, and 
makes you hate to leave them in their chosen abodes; 
you feel as if they would be more comfortable in the 
softly pulverized soil of the garden bed, and we were 
tempted to transplant quantities to what we deemed a 
more genial home, only to see them wither away. Some 
writer says that "ferns seem made to show the per- 
fection of a leaf" and certainly nothing can be more 
beautiful than these, so delicately cut and veined, so 
faultlessly graceful. I used to think ferns were only 
leaves with no flowering properties, and it is true that 
the flowering is inconspicuous; still it exists, and upon 
the under side is the simple inflorescence, consisting of 
little dots arranged generally in the middle of the leaves, 
sometimes upon the edges. Ferns belong to Class 
Third {Acrogens), and to Order 136 (FUices). They 
are very difficult to examine, and we have made out but 
few of them; we have found the ebony fern (Asplenium- 
ebeneum), a handsome species with polished black stem 
and delicate foliage ; also the cinnamon fern ( Osmunda- 
cinnamomea), the stems clothed with a soft, cinnamon- 
colored wool, with which the humming-birds line their 
little nests. We have found also the pretty rock-fern 
(Allosurus-gracilis), a delicate species growing in the 
crevices of rocks ; but the loveliest of all is the maiden- 
hair (Adiantum-pedatum), not like the tropical maiden- 
hair which adorns our fernery, but almost as beautiful. 



AMONG THE TREES. 



149 




Lygodium-palmatum. 



150 AMONG THE TREES. 

It grows in damp, rocky woods, and the stem, after 
rising ten or twelve inches, throws off delicate, glittering, 
bluish-black stems in a horizontal direction, and upon 
these are strung the beautiful light green leaflets, form- 
ing a crescent-shaped top. We have searched in vain 
for the climbing-fern (Lygwdium-palmatum), which we 
think ought to be found here, and which we hope yet to 
find. This is the most elegant of ferns, if we may 
judge from a pressed branch given us by a friend, and is 
the only climbing fern found in the United States. The 
walking-fern (Camptosorus-rliizophyllus) is interesting 
from its peculiar habit of growing. The frond or leaf- 
stalk grows six or eight inches long, the slender, linear 
point bending down till it reaches the ground, where it 
takes root, another plant springing up at this point to 
walk along in the same manner. The one which we 
brought home from New England is already on its 
travels, a new plant growing at the point of the leaf. 
We have also found the least- fern, as it is called (Schi- 
zcea-pusilla), the very smallest of ferns and quite dif- 
ferent from others, the leaf-fronds being mere lines, and 
the plant only three or four inches high. Ferns are 
interesting, because belonging to the oldest as well as 
the newest of times. Geologists say that the world, so 
far as it is known, never possessed a flora that was 
destitute of ferns and pines, and they have a double and 
somewhat contradictory claim upon our regard ; respect 
for their venerable age, and admiration of the immortal 
youth and perpetual freshness which is their fair inheri- 
tance. There are found impressions of ferns dating far 
back into the old chaotic days, " before the world was 
ready for the child of civilization," and from these we 
learn that in those times many of the ferns and mosses 



AMONG THE TREES. 151 

were of the size of forest trees. Impressions of ferns are 
continually found upon stones of different kinds, both in 
other countries and in this. We were once staying in the 
vicinity of Boston, and a railroad was in process of con- 
struction. A quantity of round, dingy, uninteresting-look- 
ing stones were thrown up from the depths, and deposited 
upon the roadside; by accident one of these was split 
asunder, and inside the color of the stone was the most 
delicate and beautiful pinkish salmon tint, and upon this 
charming background were distinctly traced the impres- 
sions of feathery ferns in the blackest jet color. Many 
others were afterwards broken, presenting the same ap- 
pearance. 

The most wonderful discoveries, however, of fossil 
ferns, have been made in the " coal measures," as they 
are called, which are strata of coal with attendant rocks ; 
within these are found the true enchanted forests, stranger 
in their luxuriance than poet ever framed ; they reveal 
dense and sombre forests where ferns and mosses were 
of gigantic size, and they show many species which are 
now unknown. From fossil ferns we will glance at fossil 
pines, as they are generally found in close proximity. 
From these fossil pines comes the beautiful amber, the 
origin of which was so long a mystery. It is found to 
be the fossilized resin of the Pinvs- succirtifer, or amber 
pine. Some of these fossil pines are found in Scotland, 
but the greatest quantity are in the vicinity of the Baltic 
Sea, and these " buried treasures of the pirate Time " are 
thrown upon the shores after storms have disturbed the 

seas. 

November 10. 

We thought summer was over and gone, to be sure, 
and November is not generally looked upon as a summer 



152 AMONG THE TREES. 

month, but just now it deserves the name. For a week 
or more, it has been dismal enough, nothing to tempt 
one out, everything indeed to forbid it; a dull, dreary, 
chilly drizzle, the ll cold November rain," and these 
saddest days when summer lies dead, and the earth is 
covered with sackcloth, and the skies weep inconsolably. 
But suddenly from out this hopeless chill, this universal 
mourning, has come that most delicious season of 
warmth, and brightness, and dreamy softness, — the 
Indian summer! Who can portray its charm? this 
golden atmosphere like delicate smoke, only no smoki- 
ness of odor mingles with the faint blue film that is 
over everything, a mantle of graceful haze resting on 
hill and valley, floating over meadow and river, obscur- 
ing nothing, but softening and glorifying everything that 
it touches The still woods are all filled with this tender 
summer glow, and you feel as if the flowers must be 
waiting for you in the soft, sunny nooks. The sun 
grows wondrously large and red, and like a mighty ball 
of fire, looks through this delectable haze with a bright- 
ness that is unclouded, but which, in some mysterious 
manner, is so divested of its fierceness, that you can gaze 
upon its gradual westering way with eyes unpained. It 
is hard to believe that these beautiful, dreamy days, are 
set directly upon the brow of winter, and one does not 
wonder that some of the summer flies and insects are 
deluded from their hiding places, and come forth to gaze 
upon that "face of nature," which they had supposed 
was muffled, and veiled, and inexorably hidden for 
months to come. Truly a mysterious, lovely episode is 
this Indian summer. Can it be that a year nearly has 
passed since we came here ? It is even so, and the 
seasons as they came, brought their own enjoyments. 



AMONG 1HE TREES. 



153 



It is true that we are sorry that the glowing summer, 
and the ripe, rich autumn have departed, and gladly 
would we keep with us the soft touch of Indian summer; 
but we do not dread the coming winter; in this favored 
clime it wears no " face of horror." The woods have 
balmy breathings all through the dreary months, and we 
are glad that we tried the winter first in our country 
home, because we know how thoroughly we enjoyed it, 
and how much it has to offer us; and we expect to im- 
prove greatly upon the last winter's experiences, as we 
were then such novices that much escaped us which 
will be pressed into our service now. And when the 
spring shall come in " her own sweet time to waken bud 
and flower," we hope that you will be with us to share 
our forest rambles, and to become familiar with all that 
has so endeared to us this charming spot on the slope 
of these secluded hills. 




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005 



345 529 3 • 







